Sexual Assault: Focus on Male Victims, part 7 (final)

This will be the last post on this topic.  I sincerely hope they posts have been helpful, whether you are a victim or are married to or otherwise related to a male victim of sexual assault.  It’s a serious issue.

It is commonly accepted that victims of any type of abuse (physical, mental, emotional, etc) go on to become abusers. Sometimes it’s true; hence, such evils as generational incest. However, it is not always true, and we need to not assume anything here.

The perpetuation of such a belief  can create terrible fear in boys and men.  The fear that they themselves will abuse other boys/men can become so strong that they will isolate themselves from human contact simply to prevent such behaviors.  That isolation leads to a host of other harmful behaviors, such as substance abuse, obesity, and other self-harm.

They also tend to fear that if anyone else knows what happened to them, they will be seen as a danger to children. As such, they would be treated as social pariahs, never allowed contact, even in their own families, with the people they need the most. Boys and men who have suffered sexual assault and abuse often feel they are seen as perpetrators rather than as victims.

If a boy gets  good help when he is young, the statistics show very few of them go on to abuse other children.  Remember, these boys didn’t ask to be assaulted; they were victims, not perpetrators.  Unless there is an underlying, unrecognized and deep anger in the boy as he grows up, he will be a danger to no one.