Interpreting Male Victims: Sexual Assault, Gender, and Advocacy

• In Event: Sociology of Sex and Gender Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 15. Violence: Framing, Interpretation, and Advocacy

Abstract

Research has explored how ideas about gender and sex shape the landscape of resources and advocacy for female and child survivors of sexual assault. However, there is less empirical evidence that examines how similar social forces affect advocacy for adult male victims/survivors. This project examines how the small number of nonprofits engaged in advocacy for male victims frame the harm of sexual assault and how they navigate social assumptions about gender and sexuality as they attempt to render male survivors legible to cultural sympathy and advocate for resources.

Author

• Elizabeth Trudeau, Appalachian State University