“DISREMEMBERED AND UNACCOUNTED” : BREAKING THE SILENCE SURROUNDING MALE RAPE IN BELOVED BY TONI MORRISON.

Abstract

Sexual Violence is a ubiquitous theme in the novels of Toni Morrison. The novel Beloved literalizes gender neutrality by riveting instances of male rape victimization, as an emblem of that oppression which is often viewed as less than noteworthy. The feminist criticism and its overindulgence in scrutinizing the interstices of female rape cases, has unintendedly veered away from the documentation of male rape cases. This paper aims to deconstruct the gendered rhetoric surrounding rape to discredit the axiom that men are ‘unrapeable’. Through the study of the novel Beloved, I wish to show why male rape cases are underreported as a result of the lacuna in the articulateness of their experiences. Toni Morrison through the disturbing patterns of sexual aggression in her novel has demonstrated how the strong cognitive gender system and the taboos associated with it, can psychologically distort the male victims of rape. Also, interesting it is to note the disparate implications of sexual violence on men and women,and the trauma of sexual disorientation it entails exclusively on the male sex especially when he is subjected to non-heteronormative sexual aggression. I would also like to testify how the cognizant tendency of self-blame among the male victims of rape, potentially makes them vulnerable to re-victimization.