8. Men and Sexual Abuse

Abstract

This chapter explores adult male victims of child sexual abuse. It considers areas of victimization that we ignore or render invisible because we have constructed men as offenders rather than victims, including prison rape and domestic violence. It discusses the legal framework for dealing with child sexual abuse and the available psychological data on male victims of child sexual abuse, as well as what the data suggests about the role of gender in victim injury and response to abuse. It also explains how masculinities analysis, informing and infusing feminist theory, might expose the experience of adult male survivors of child sexual abuse. Finally, it envisions an effective support structure and more proactive intervention aimed at reducing the rate of child sexual abuse, and child abuse more generally, for all children.