Thursday, October 27, 2016

Initial Bibliography

  • Sable, Marjorie R., Fran Danis, Denise L. Mauzy, and Sarah K. Gallagher. Barriers to Reporting Sexual Assault for Women and Men: Perspectives of College Students. Journal of American College Health. N.p., Nov. 2006. Web. 15 Oct. 2016.
  • Lowe, Michelle. Male Sexual Assault Victims: A Selective Review of the Literature and Implications for Support Services. ResearchGate. N.p., 9 July 2015. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.
  • Lowe, Michelle, Paul Rogers, and Jennifer Gilston. Examining the Relationship Between Male Rape Myth Acceptance, Female Rape Myth Acceptance, Victim Blame, Homophobia, Gender Roles, and Ambivalent Sexism. ResearchGate. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Apr. 2012. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.
  • Mitchell, Damon, Gordon C. Nagayama Hall, and Richard Hirschman. Attributions of Victim Responsibility, Pleasure, and Trauma in Male Rape. ResearchGate. Journal of Sex Research, Nov. 1999. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.
  • Larimer, Mary E., Amy R. Lydum, Britt K. Anderson, and Aaron P. Turner. Male and Female Recipients of Unwanted Sexual Contact in a College Student Sample: Prevalence Rates, Alcohol Use, and Depression Symptoms. ResearchGate. Sex Roles, Feb. 1999. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.
  • Scarce, Michael. Same-Sex Rape of Male College Students. University of Minnesota Duluth. Journal of American College Health, Jan. 1997. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.
  • “UCR Program Changes Definition of Rape.” FBI, 15 July 2016. Web. 25 Oct. 2016

  • Anderson, Peter B., and Cindy Struckman-Johnson. Sexually Aggressive Women: Current Perspectives and Controversies. New York: Guilford, 1998. Print.

  • McMullen, Richie. Male Rape: Breaking the Silence on the Last Taboo. London: GMP, 1990. Print.

  • Scacco, Anthony M. Male Rape: A Casebook of Sexual Aggressions. New York, NY: AMS, 1982. Print.

Literature Review #3

1) Image of Gordon C. Nagayama Hall
Image result for gordon c nagayama hall researchgate

2) Mitchell, Damon, Gordon C. Nagayama Hall, and Richard Hirschman. "Attributions of Victim Responsibility, Pleasure, and Trauma in Male Rape." Https://www.jstor.org. The Journal of Sex Research, Nov. 1999. Web. 25 Oct. 2016.

3) This study examined how much the sexual orientation of a male-on-male rape victim affected how much responsibility participants placed on the victim, and how much pleasure and trauma the participants thought the victim received from the assault. It also examined the differences in victim attribution by the male and female participants. More responsibility, more pleasure, and less trauma were attributed to homosexual victims, and male participants attributed more blame than did female participants.

4) Damon Mitchell is a professor in the Criminal Justice Department at Central Connecticut State University.

Gordon C Nagayama Hall is a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Oregon.

Richard Hirschman is a professor in the Department of psychology at Kent State University.

5) Attribution: attributions of the victim's degree of responsibility, pleasure, and trauma associated with the assault.

Victim Responsibility: The degree to which a victim is blamed for their own assault. Especially common with sexual assault cases compared to other crimes.

6) "It has been shown in laboratory experiments that people often hold rape victims somewhat responsible for their fate." (369)

"Although the stereotype may be that men would not be as powerfully affected by such an event because they are supposedly tougher emotionally and better able to cope, there is a similarity between male rape victims and the rape trauma syndrome observed in female rape victims." (369)

"Given the social stigma associated with male rape, it seems likely that males rapes are even more under-reported than rape involving a female victim."

7) This study helps to demonstrate the strong biases and stigmas held against homosexuals, misconceptions about rape and victim responsibility, and how misconceptions about rape and victim responsibility as well as homophobia affects the male rape victim. By attributing more blame and less trauma to a victim because they happen to be attracted to members of the gender to which the perpetrator belongs to, a precedent is set that extends to all sexual assault victims- if someone, male or female, is raped by, for example, a romantic partner or someone the victim was interested in, it's the same type of victim blaming as in a homosexual victim of male-on-male rape. This further illustrates how stigmas held toward male rape don't exist in a vacuum. 

Attributions of victim responsibility are a huge issue when it comes to stigmas affecting rape victims, and creates barriers which prevent a victim from reporting. It also shows that many hold  the incorrect notion that physical pleasure during assault means more victim responsibility and less trauma associated with the assault, when in fact it can cause additional trauma. It also shows that the undercurrent of homophobia in society affects certain rape victims.

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Research Proposal

Merav Kleinmann
Professor Goeller
Research Proposal
10/17/2016

Working Title: Male Sexual Assault: Overcoming Barriers
Topic: The focus of the paper will be sexual assault on males, specifically the barriers that prevent males from reporting their assaults on college campuses. The paper will explore how the public’s perception of male rape, male rape myths, gender roles/sexism, heavy stigmatization, victim orientation, gender of perpetrator, and assault circumstances negatively affect male victims and lead to more rapes and assaults going unreported. Male sexual assault victims are erased and marginalized, largely unacknowledged by society, and often their assault is not considered legitimate for any combination of the factors listed above. What can colleges do to help break down some of those barriers and rape myths so male sexual assault like can be treated as the serious issue it is?
Research Question: What are the barriers that stand in the way of male sexual assault victims reporting their assault, why do they exist, and how do they affect the victim? Why is male sexual assault treated the way that it is, and what can colleges do to help break down these barriers?
Theoretical Frame: Sexual assault on males is a very real problem, but for many reasons, including male rape myths, gender roles, sexism, and heavy stigmatization, male sexual assault is often not considered possible or legitimate.
Typically, men are assumed to be the gender to always be seeking out sex, so they are usually assumed to be the perpetrator of sexual assault, while females are the victims. Men are considered the stronger sex, and for this reason it’s thought that it’s not physically possible for a male to be raped by a female, which erases male victims of sexual coercion. If a male victim derives physical pleasure from an assault, which is fairly common, the assault is even less likely to be taken seriously. If a male victim was physically overpowered by a female during an assault, reporting it will call their masculinity into question as well as the legitimacy of their victimhood (“Why didn’t you fight harder? She’s just a girl.”). These harmful stigmas and beliefs erase male victims of female perpetrators and makes it very unlikely for them to report their assault. Because these beliefs are so widely held, they dictate how the victim will be treated by law enforcement, as well as family and friends.
The sexual assault of males is often pigeonholed into prison rape and rape in the LGBTQ+ community. It’s pushed aside as a problem for “others”, when in reality sexual assault on males by both male and female perpetrators can occur in any setting, including college campuses. College-age males are much more likely to be assaulted than males of other ages. This really illustrates the need for colleges to implement education programs and support services for male victims of sexual assault. Right now, it’s largely ignored and considered a non-issue,
It can be very difficult to identify the statistics of male sexual assault. Many cases of male sexual assault go completely unreported due to the barriers. Numbers can vary wildly from study to study, because the legal definitions of male sexual assault vary from area to area. Until 2012, the FBI defined rape as “carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and without her consent.” (“UCR Program Changes Definition of Rape.”) In 2013, they updated it to read “Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.” This is slightly better than the previous definition, but still erases many of the kinds of sexual assaults which happens to males. It only include assaults where a male is forcibly penetrated, and don’t include assaults where a male is forced to penetrate, again erasing many female-on-male assaults. How can a victim of one of these other forms of assault come forward when in many places their assault is not included in the legal definition of rape, which is basically the bare minimum for rape reporting?
“Male Sexual Assault Victims A Selective Review of the Literature and Implications for Support Services” by Michelle Lowe explores the prevalence of sexual assault on males, the effects of sexual assault on a male victim, and the roles the victim’s orientation and the gender of the perpetrator play in how the public regards a male victim and his assault. Support services will be one of the focuses of my essay, as an answer to the question “what can colleges do?” Implementing support services across college campuses is the solution to the issues raised in my thesis.
“Attributions of Victim Responsibility, Pleasure, and Trauma in Male Rape” by Damon Mitchell et al. is a study that explores attitudes of both females and males towards the sexual assault of a male by a male perpetrator. It discusses how these attitudes impact whether or not a victim will report and why. Gay men are less likely to report because they are afraid that they will be perceived by law enforcement and others as “asking for it” or as having enjoyed the assault (similar to how men raped by women would be perceived as not legitimate victims because they enjoyed it). This also illustrates how sexual orientation and gender of perpetrator play a direct role in creating a barrier between victims and reporting, because of their fear of how they will be perceived. Stigma is not just an external force, it is internalized by rape and assault victims, to their detriment. Stigmas affect everyone involved in sexual assault; the perpetrators, who might use these notions to justify their crime, the victims, who will (as the article discusses) self-blame for their assault, and the public (including law enforcement, family, and friends), whose attitude towards male sexual assault will affect whether or not a victim will report.
With these and other barriers preventing victims from either reporting their assault or divulging it to family or friends, victims are forced to keep their assault to themselves, despite the toll that may take on their well-being and mental health. Isn’t being a sexual assault victim enough of an ordeal without society punishing male victims for existing, inflicting further hardship on the victims?
Research Plan: I also want to answer to what extent males are affected by their assault emotionally/mentally as a way to prove the legitimacy of sexual assault on males. I want to show that sexism towards male is not only possible but hurts the male sexual assault victim and creates barriers which stop them from reporting. I want to show that gender roles hurt both genders and allow rapists to exploit others without consequence. I also would like to answer the question about what colleges can potentially do to help break down barriers, through education, awareness campaigns, and offering support services.
I also plan on watching the documentary “The Hunting Ground”.



Works Cited:
  • Sable, Marjorie R., Fran Danis, Denise L. Mauzy, and Sarah K. Gallagher. Barriers to Reporting Sexual Assault for Women and Men: Perspectives of College Students. Journal of American College Health. N.p., Nov. 2006. Web. 15 Oct. 2016.
  • Lowe, Michelle. Male Sexual Assault Victims: A Selective Review of the Literature and Implications for Support Services. ResearchGate. N.p., 9 July 2015. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.
  • Lowe, Michelle, Paul Rogers, and Jennifer Gilston. Examining the Relationship Between Male Rape Myth Acceptance, Female Rape Myth Acceptance, Victim Blame, Homophobia, Gender Roles, and Ambivalent Sexism. ResearchGate. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Apr. 2012. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.
  • Mitchell, Damon, Gordon C. Nagayama Hall, and Richard Hirschman. Attributions of Victim Responsibility, Pleasure, and Trauma in Male Rape. ResearchGate. Journal of Sex Research, Nov. 1999. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.
  • Larimer, Mary E., Amy R. Lydum, Britt K. Anderson, and Aaron P. Turner. Male and Female Recipients of Unwanted Sexual Contact in a College Student Sample: Prevalence Rates, Alcohol Use, and Depression Symptoms. ResearchGate. Sex Roles, Feb. 1999. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.
  • Scarce, Michael. Same-Sex Rape of Male College Students. University of Minnesota Duluth. Journal of American College Health, Jan. 1997. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.
  • “UCR Program Changes Definition of Rape.” FBI, 15 July 2016. Web. 25 Oct. 2016





Monday, October 17, 2016

Literature Review #2

1) Images of two of the authors.
Marjorie R SableFran Danis

2) Sable, Marjorie R., Fran Danis, Denise L. Mauzy, and Sarah K. Gallagher. "Barriers to Reporting Sexual Assault for Women and Men: Perspectives of College Students." Journal of American College Health. N.p., Nov. 2006. Web. 15 Oct. 2016.


3) In this article, the authors asked college students both male and female about barriers that prevent victims from reporting their assaults. They found that despite the rape reform movement, barriers are still much the same as they were thirty years ago. The barriers were rated as "(1) shame, guilt, embarrassment, not wanting friends and family to know; (2) concerns about confidentiality; and (3) fear of not being believed". Some students, both male and female, felt that a fear of being perceived as gay was a barrier for male victims.

4) Marjorie R Sable, DRPH, MSW, MPH works at the University of Missouri, Columbia.

Fran Danis is a Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Texas, Arlington.

Denise L Mauzy and Sarah K Gallagher both worked at the University of Missouri, Columbia.

5) Barrier: Something that prevents a rape victim from reporting their rape or telling others about their rape.

6) "The lack of attention to male sexual assault victimization has allowed society to dismiss the problem as a behavior that occurs in the gay community or prison environment." (158)

"Exploring gender differences about the perceived importance of barriers could broaden our understanding of factors that contribute to underreporting and could help to distinguish commonalities as well as differences in barriers to reporting." (158)

"Although both female and male victims experience self-blame and shame, often the reason for this reaction has a gendered contextual meaning ... The high score that fear of being judged as gay received by the respondents may acknowledge society's consideration that male rape occurs in the gay, not the general, community." (160)

7) This study helped me to further understand  some of the specific reasons why victims, specifically male victims, may not report their rape, and in this case the focus is on a fear of being perceived as gay to be a big barrier. This reinforces my thought that sexual orientation and gender role play a massive part in assaults going unreported. To a large part of the public, male rape is pigeonholed into the gay community or prison, ignoring the fact that sexual assault on males occurs on a much larger scale. Victims outside of those specific communities are erased and ignored, making it extremely unlikely for them to ever report. 





Thursday, October 13, 2016

Literature Review #1

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michelle_Lowe7/publication/222607725_Male_sexual_assault_victims_A_selective_review_of_the_literature_and_implications_for_support_services/links/559ebbe308aeb40ee93c209e.pdf

1) An image of the author.



2) Lowe, Michelle. Male Sexual Assault Victims: A Selective Review of the Literature and Implications for Support ServicesResearchGate. N.p., 9 July 2015. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.

3) This reading attempts to shed some light on the sexual assault of males. The author discusses the fact that sexual assault on males does not receive much attention by either researchers or by the public, and gathers some research on both the prevalence of sexual assault on males and the effects the assault has on the victim, as well as the different factors that have an effect on the reactions of the public towards male victims. The reading considers perpetrators of both genders and victims of different sexualities and gender identifications (transgender victims). The author also writes about what all of these different factors mean as far as support services for male victims, and how we can use this information to improve support services.

4) Michelle Lowe (BSc (Hons), BA, PhD, C.Psychol, FHEA) works at the University of Bolton in England, where she is currently a lecturer in Criminological and Forensic Psychology at the School of Psychology.

5) Male Sexual Assault Victims: Male victims of sexual assault perpetrated by either females or males, strangers or acquaintances.

Prevalence (of sexual assault): How often it occurs. In males, it is very difficult to calculate, as they are rarely reported.

6) "Struckman-Johnson (1988), for example, found that 16% of the males in an undergraduate sample (compared with 22% of the females in this study) had been pressured or forced to have sex at some point in their adult lives. Most victims were coerced by the use of psychological tactics, though in about a quarter of these cases, physical force was also used. Surprisingly, most of these assaults were carried out by female perpetrators. In a large proportion of these cases, the assault occurred in a dating situation. British data revealed similar figures. Approximately 14% of males (compared with about 24% of females) in a student sample had experienced forced sexual contact or intercourse at least once in their lives (Davies, Pollard & Archer, 2000a)." (206)

"As socialization encourages men to seek and respond to any opportunity to engage in sexual activity with women, sexual coercion by women may be conceptualized as sexual experience (even if that experience is negative) rather than a violation of will." (206)

"They found specifically that victims were blamed more when they were assaulted by a perpetrator who was portrayed as a member of the gender that they were normally attracted to: heterosexual victims were blamed more when the perpetrator was female than when male, while gay victims were blamed more when the perpetrator was male than when female." (210)

7) This material gathers information many different studies in order to explore the realities of sexual assault on males. Statistics are provided by many sources which will also be helpful to me. This article explores male sexual assault in a broad way, so it is also helping me to narrow my focus. 



Monday, October 10, 2016

Research Blog #3: Initial Academic Research Bib

This past week, I spent a lot of time searching for sources about social isolation and anxiety in college. I was struggling with finding sources to connect with, so I decided to search for sources on my other potential topics. The sources that interested me the most were the sources about sexual assault on males on college campuses and the attitudes, myths, and stigmas surrounding it. I really didn't want to abandon my previous idea about social isolation and anxiety and college, as I had been writing about it and researching it a lot, and Professor Goeller had given me some great sources and ideas. But I found myself to be much more drawn to the scholarly articles related to sexual assault on males on college campuses, and felt like I had many more ideas on what to write about, because it's such a complex and multifaceted issue. It's a bit late in the game to change to such a different topic, but I feel much more comfortable with this topic. The point of my paper will not be to point blame at one gender or another, but rather to identify and acknowledge the harmful stigmas which exist surrounding male rape, effectively analyze sources to identify why and where these stigmas exist, where they are most prevalent, identify how these stigmas affect the victims (especially as far as college, but also beyond), and identify what can potentially be done about these issues.

After researching through Google Scholar and the Rutgers library databases, I want to focus on the attitudes of both male and female students towards male sexual assault (perpetrated by both males and females), comparing them and the reasons why they may differ. Sexual assault on males is not as prevalent as it is towards females, so it isn't acknowledged in the same way, and there is a lot of ignorance and stigma surrounding it. I would like to talk about the different kinds of stigma attached to sexual assault on males, because based on my research so far there are many different factors that play into it. I'm not focusing on male sexual assault to suggest that sexual assault towards females isn't an issue on college campuses or is somehow less important (in fact there are many parallels as far as victim blaming), because of course it is a huge issue, and I'm not going to ignore it, it just won't be the focus of this paper. They are closely connected, so it will definitely be mentioned and discussed as it relates to my topic.

This article (http://jiv.sagepub.com.proxy.libraries.rutgers.edu/content/27/14/2807.full.pdf+html) helped me to see how male on male sexual assault and female on male sexual assault each seem to be regarded very differently and different biases such as gender roles, homophobia (could possibly branch off into talking about sexual assault in the LGBTQ community), sexism, victim blaming, etc. come into play in different ways, based on whether the assault was perpetrated by a male or by a female.

I would like to use real cases from various college campuses to show evidence on how this stigma affects male sexual assault victims, during the sexual assault itself and beyond, and further adds to their suffering.

This study (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Joan_Chrisler/publication/226598144_Gender_role_and_attitudes_toward_rape_in_male_and_female_college_students/links/5605e6e808aea25fce34237f.pdf) focuses on the differences in attitudes towards male sexual assault. It also discusses the prevalence in acquaintance rape and how many college students have misconceptions about what constitutes rape. I would like to analyze this as far as how it applies specifically to sexual assault on males and what can be done to help better educate college students and create a less stigmatized environment for rape victims both male and female. (although maybe if I talk about both male and female victims, the paper might seem too disorganized? I'm not sure. Ultimately I want to focus on male victims, but if I discuss what needs to change on college campuses, it's kind of across the board, because female victims are stigmatized and blamed as well, though for different reasons)

This source (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michelle_Lowe7/publication/222607725_Male_sexual_assault_victims_A_selective_review_of_the_literature_and_implications_for_support_services/links/559ebbe308aeb40ee93c209e.pdf) discusses the effects of sexual assault on males (there is an existing belief that men cannot be raped by women because they enjoy it. Long-term negative effects prove otherwise) It outlines findings that reactions towards a male sexual assault depend on the victim's sexuality and the perpetrator's gender, which is a main point I want to make.

Some other possible sources:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michelle_Lowe7/publication/222600153_Perceptions_of_male_victims_in_depicted_sexual_assaults_A_review_of_the_literature/links/559ebbe308ae97223ddc4e76.pdf

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Brenda_Russell/publication/5593270_Male_rape_myths_The_role_of_gender_violence_and_sexism/links/0c96051eefa60e5ae8000000.pdf

http://www.middlebury.edu/media/view/240971/original/sable_article.pdf

http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/jhamlin/3925/Readings/sameSex.html

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Aaron_Turner/publication/251105616_Male_and_Female_Recipients_of_Unwanted_Sexual_Contact_in_a_College_Student_Sample_Prevalence_Rates_Alcohol_Use_and_Depression_Symptoms/links/00b495384986623afb000000.pdf

http://www.internetjournalofcriminology.com/javaid_male_rape_the_invisible_male_ijc_jan_2014.pdf

http://tagv.mohw.gov.tw/TAGVResources/upload/Resources/2013/1/Myths%20about%20Male%20Rape%20A%20Literature%20Review.pdf

Monday, October 3, 2016

Research Blog #2

I've been considering a lot of different topics but I think I'm zeroing in on a paper related to social anxiety and its effects on college students, such as social isolation, struggles with academics, dropping out, and other ways in which students with social issues can slip through the cracks (which I think happens a lot at colleges, especially at large universities such as Rutgers). I had never heard of the term "attrition" before and that's an interesting and relevant concept I want to explore.

As I continue with my research I hope to narrow my topic a bit so I can analyze more deeply without going off on too many tangents. Many of the articles I found regarding social anxiety actually discussed links between social deficits and alcohol use, and I'm interested in possibly discussing that in my paper. I think there is a lot to explore there. I used Google Scholar to search for articles related to social anxiety during college, and while there were plenty specifically related to social anxiety and drinking, there weren't many on social anxiety/social isolation in college students in general at first glance. I definitely need to do a little more digging, but some of the older blogs have some interesting sources (not sure if I can actually cite those in my paper since they were used by other students, but they are good for general knowledge regardless)

This writing (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/David_Fresco/publication/7791819_Social_anxiety_alcohol_expectancies_and_self-efficacy_as_predictors_of_heavy_drinking_in_college_students/links/09e41506283ffbbe8c000000.pdf) discusses the connections between social anxiety and drinking, and it goes into different reasons why college students drink. It mentions many different studies and I think this will be valuable when I read it more in-depth.

Professor Goeller mentioned Vincent Tinto's "Leaving College" as a good book about how social isolation can lead to academic issues and eventually dropping out of college (again reminds me of Alana from Paying For the Party). I'm definitely going to read this. Including this in my searches led to some interesting studies. This one (http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED365253.pdf) examines specific cases of students who dropped out of college, and suggests that  pre-enrollment qualities in students who drop out have more of an effect than Tinto writes about. I'm interested in reading Tinto's book and then the different writings it spawned.

This article also seems promising:
http://clt.curtin.edu.au/events/conferences/tlf/tlf2001/darlaston-jones.html