Male survivors of rape "must not be forgotten", a charity addressing sexual violence has said.

Rape Crisis Ireland has said that while women and children are the "predominant victims" of sexual violence, male survivors must also feel safe in reporting abuse.

The organisation analysed their statistics and found "impactful differences" in how male and female survivors are targeted and the responses they receive when they disclose abuse.

Climate of disclosure

Rape Crisis Ireland's executive director Dr Clíona Saidléar said the climate of disclosure surrounding male survivors has to change.

"While acknowledging that 88% of sexual survivors were women, the 12% of male survivors must not be forgotten," Dr Saidléar said.

"Men are targeted differently and the difficulties they face following sexual violence are different too, which means how we think about creating safety, healing and justice for men must be different.

"What happens to men is a powerful insight into how our culture creates a climate of hostility for survivors and opportunity for perpetrators."

Couple sitting together on a couch, Alamy

Dr Saidléar said discrimination on the grounds of sex, gender and sexuality helps to "silence and shame survivors, blames and disbelieves them, and minimises both the harm to them and their right to vindication and justice".

According to Rape Crisis Ireland's report, there are differences in how men and women report sexual violence.

18% of men are more likely to make their first disclosure to a medical professional, compared to 10% of women.

For abuse that took place when the survivor was under the age of 13, 21% of men and 26% of women tell their parents about this abuse.

However, for sexual abuse that took place when the survivor was a teenager, 39% of women told their parents compared to 25% of men.

Safety

Dr Saidléar said the report's "overall pattern" shows that women felt safe "accessing a much broader set of opportunities and choices for disclosure".

"Whereas men were assessing some of those options as less safe and trusted places for them to turn to," Dr Saidléar said.

"Male survivors of adult abuse were most likely to disclose to a partner (26%), a member of An Garda Síochána (26%), a family member other than a parent (16%), or a medical professional (11%)."

A man in a counsellor's office, Alamy

Rape Crisis Ireland is calling on the Government and CUAN to "deepen our understanding and response to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and the full implementation of the Zero Tolerance Strategy in partnership with the sexual violence sector in Ireland".

"This evidence RCI sets out today from male survivors begs a range of important questions we need to research in order to understand and respond more fully to the impacts of sexual violence on males as well as females," Dr Saidléar said.

According to Rape Crisis Ireland, it is important that friends, family members, medical professionals and Gardaí are able to provide all survivors with a response that "supports and builds justice".

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can contact 24-hour National Rape Crisis Helpline operated by Dublin Rape Crisis Centre on 1 800 77 8888.

Featured image shows a man sitting on a couch, looking down, Alamy.