Topic: Boys and men are socialized to see themselves as strong, tough, and self-sufficient. Acknowledging feelings and disclosing vulnerabilities are in some ways antithetical to traditional masculine roles. So today many men who are sexually harassed choose not to report. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this action
Up to now, we have continually been thinking of men as both physically and emotionally strong. They always try to appear to be tough and never show any of their weaknesses in order to conform with the community’s masculine standards. Hence, the number of men who are sexually harassed but do not report is increasing like mad. Their activity, however, is completely wrong in my opinion, and it has a bunch of negative influences on our life today.
To begin with, that a man does not disclose his rape makes the society worse and worse. If no victims tell the world about their attack, there will be no one being concerned about sexual assault as we tend not to be aware of dangers around us till we read others’ stories and get a lesson for ourselves. In the US, only six percent of all reported rapes will end in a prison sentence, which means that ninety-nine percent of rapists get away with their crimes. Nonetheless, the actual number of sexual predators is much greater because only a few boys give their rapists away. As a consequence, those criminals, especially females who are expected to be innocent and harmless, are at liberty to assault much more people. Obviously, the more incidents are reported, the more people keep their wits about them.
On top of that, male victims of sexual violence have to confront seriously negative feelings after being raped. The long-lasting social paradigm that men must never raise a hand to a woman leaves them in an awkward position of defenselessness when attacked by a female rapist. Unfortunately, not only has their body been violated, but their humanity and their sense of identity have been affected terribly too. Boys usually think that no one will believe their story; therefore, they feel lonely and fear being accused of not being manly enough, or even blamed for their attack. Those long-term negatives have an extremely huge impact on their mental health, importantly causing them to lose their self-control.
In a nutshell, sexual harassment is a very big issue, and whether rape victims should disclose their stories or not is an exceedingly hard decision to be made for anybody, especially boys who have to face traditional manliness. No matter what prejudices men have to confront, the best solution for any male victims is always to raise their voice, and share their own experience with others to not only heal their soul, but raise the awareness of the whole society, as well.