Male rape is rarely discussed in our culture, apart from the odd gag about dropping the soap in the prison showers.
Yet studies suggest one in seven UK rape victims could be male, while one in four men may have sufffered childhood sexual abuse.
Historic under-reporting has reinforced the myth within society and many statutory agencies that men are rarely victims of sexual violence.
The effect is that rape crisis services are skewed towards women, with male-centred services lagging some two decades behind .
This, a society where men are not permitted to be “victims” – plus the incorrect perception that male-on-male sexual violence only affects and is committed by gay men – conspire to force those who have been through this keep their stories to themselves and suffer the consequences alone.
“This isn’t just being swept under the carpet,” says Simon, a rape survivor and support worker. “It’s being locked behind doors. Men aren’t supposed to be victims, or to cry. Only women are meant to be vulnerable.”

From the Big Issue in the North 7/4/08