Sexual violence against men in global politics

Abstract

Sexual violence against men is committed more frequently than is commonly assumed. Yet despite growing evidence regarding the perpetration of these crimes, much remains unknown about their dynamics. Indeed, as the editors of this new volume note, ‘male victims of this form of violence have been overwhelmingly rendered invisible, both in research and policy papers’ (p. 2). This observation is both the premise and starting-point of this book, as well as one of the primary conclusions. Seeking to address this prevailing invisibility and theoretical vacuity, Marysia Zalewski, Paula Drumond, Elisabeth Prugl and Maria Stern aim ‘to highlight and interrogate some of the complexities and discomforts around sexual violence against men’ (p. 3). By bringing together a range of authors from across different disciplines, the edited volume draws attention to various aspects and forms of this type of violence—ranging from sexual violence in the US military (pp. 57–70) to genital mutilation...