A new study released by SurvivorsUK, an advocacy organization, revealed some concerning data. Out of the 505 gay and bisexual men surveyed, 45 percent had experienced sexual assault. Additionally, 37 percent of those stated that they did not feel comfortable or that they were able to talk about their experiences with close friends, family, or partners.
As these findings are compared to other recent studies, overall, gay and bisexual men are twice as likely to be sexually assaulted than their heterosexual counterparts. Drawing upon his own experiences, CEO of SurvivorsUK Alex Feis-Bryce describes how he gained the sense that many gay and bisexual men normalize sexual assault and may even see it as a rite of passage for men who have sex with men.
The study also found that the male sexual assault survivors did not feel safe reporting their assault to the police. Eighty-five percent of the participants stated that they could not contact law enforcement after their assault.
This data is consistent with other studies done on sexual assault and have found that many incidents go unreported. However, this data could be inconsistent because it is possible that some survivors don’t tell anyone what happened to them.
The low rates of reporting for queer male sexual assault survivors can be attributed to the rocky relationship the queer community has with law enforcement, as well as cultural biases that stigmatize sexual assault against males. Many men who have experienced sexual assault, queer or heterosexual, have found that their cases are not taken into priority and are even dismissed.
In this study, 14 percent of the participants reported their assault to the police. Of those, 20 percent said that they felt they were not believed by law enforcement, and 24 percent said that they felt they were not being taken seriously.
Despite giving insightful information, this study was also limited in its scope. The participants were mostly white, which likely impacted the results as Black, bisexual men are more likely to experience sexual violence. The study also did not ask gender identity, so it is unknown if all the people surveyed were cisgender men, or if some were transgender or nonbinary. This also may have impacted the results, as trans people are more likely to experience sexual violence.
