In most sexual violence reports and statistics, you probably will see more female victims than male victims. This has been a relatively large point of argument for feminist, that women are disproportionally victims of sexual violence. It has been feminism's goals to help women who experience sexual violence and to achieve gender equality. So why do I advocate for men?
If you're not a Men's rights activist or someone who advocate for men, you might go to the simplest answer, that I hate women. I do not. I even often find myself agreeing with feminist on many topics, sometimes even learning from them. However, I just can't bring myself to identify as a feminist (If you're interested in why I do not identify with feminist, see this post), and it seems I am not alone. According to Vox, 85% of people polled by them say they believe in gender equality, however, only about 18% considered themselves feminist. So, if I'm not sexist, why else would I advocate for men despite the statistics?
Well, first of all, because while women do not receive enough support, male victims often find themselves without any support at all. There are several movements, NGOs and governmental organizations founded to support women (UN Women, Women for Women International, DOL Women’s Bureau and more), while men lack any governmental support at all. In some fields, not only do men not have any support, but they also find themselves victims of gender inequality.
The concept of men lacking legal rights is often considered a ridiculous one, but that doesn't make it any less true. In several countries, women cannot be charged with rape of a man. This means men lack equal protection under the law. Not only this, in multiple of countries under the law women's punishment are often less severe. In some countries, only men can be executed, and in others (for example, Russia), Albania) only men can face life imprisonment. In Kansas, men still have to pay child support even if conception happened because of a rape. These are just to list a few.
Then there's the issue of statistics itself, yes, women are the majority of victims of sexual violence, but the percentages are often exaggerated. Take rape as an example, while statistics like
90% of rape victims are women.
are common, it isn't accurate. These numbers define rape as "force penetration" and exclude "forced to penetrate". This makes most rape victims women, since women don't have penises which means it's hard to penetrate someone. However, according to the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey 2016/2017, if you include forced penetration, the number of rape victims who are male is closer to 41%.
So just to summarize, the reason I advocate for men is that woman already have lots of support, while men not only lack support, but awareness of the issues we face even exist at all. Statistics are somethings manipulated in a way that excludes men and advocating for men is still viewed as hate against women.
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