CNN article
So it is a fairly new story not a huge amount of information. I find it important that it is being covered in the media and am curious about how it is being covered/investigated as compared to other forms of serial crimes. I'd like this to stay in Switchboard as a current event but I'd like us to really look at some of the language being used around this form of violence.
"There's a lot of emotional damage that goes with being raped, especially when the victims are men," said Lynn Parrish, a spokeswoman for the National Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. But she added: "The best way to get this rapist off the street is for more people to come forward."
The above troubles me because of "There's a lot of emotional damage that goes with being raped, especially when the victims are men." Especially? The statement appears to somehow position one group of victims as more affected than another.
Contrast with:
The U.S. Justice Department says one in 33 men in the United States has been a victim of a rape or attempted rape, compared with one in six women. Experts say men are far less likely to report a rape to authorities, because they fear being perceived as weak or see the attack as an assault on their masculinity.
Rather than positioning one group as more emotionally damaged than another the above positions one group as less likely to report the crime.
This is echoed in the second article I found:
Investigators worry other victims have not reported the crime because they are embarrassed or see it as an attack on their masculinity. They stress that victims' identities will be kept confidential. "It's not a typical thing...But it's no difference whether the victim is male or female, the attacker still has assaultive, dominating needs that he is trying to fulfill," said Baytown Police Capt. Roger Clifford." |
