Customer Reviews

Male On Male Rape: The Hidden Toll of Stigma and Shame

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As a survivor of male rape, I am happy that a book on this overlooked subject is finally available. Further, not only is this the only book to treat the subject, it does so in a very effective manner. It is not simply acedemic; it is also gripping and real. The personal stories are tales of horror. Male rape is a truly unknown crime. After I was raped repeatedly, I tired to find help. Instead, I was cast out for I "must have wanted it" - one of the myths dealt with by the writer.

Rape, no matter what sex the victim, is a horrid affair. There is much more support for female victims; males often go untreated and suffer accordingly.

This is a fantastic book for raising awareness. However, it is unfortunate that such an important topic - and what I had hoped would be a truly informative and helpful book in my work with male survivors - has so many inaccuracies. The descriptions of state's sexual assault legislation alone is now more than 13 years out of date - and were 8 years out of date when published. Though it has not been a simple process, many rape crisis centers, who face the same lack of information about male rape as survivors, have been doing much to help male survivors since the early 1990s.

Very disturbing how this problem is swept under the rug. Even more disturbing is the very real possibility that this is a very prevalent crime that happens every day. It makes me very upset over the lack of published works about the rape of men and peoples' perception that it is either impossible, rarely happens(or only in prison to people who "deserve it"), or is not half as common as the rape of women.

Just not a good piece of scholarship to begin with and if it ever had value in that regard it certainly does not now.

This book looks at a societal taboo, that is, "male on male rape". It is our "skeleton in the closet" which is understudied and under researched. Male rape trauma syndrome is very real. The book looks beyond the lay myths of, "you ust have wanted it otherwise you would have fought him off". Any man, anywhere can be raped by another. The psychological, emotional, physical damage is perhaps more profound due to societal assumption of "you could have stopped it if you resisted". The man raped lives in a "netherworld" of anger, grief, loss, and desire for revenge. There are very rarely male rape hotlines, or male rape groups that process the trauma. It's secretness is insidious because it spills over into domestic violence, violent sexuality, recidivism.

Well written, easy read, informative. It is certain to unmask male rape myths and add insight into this subject. I would give it 4 stars.

This book helped me to aknowledge my own abuse and lessen the shame I felt for a long time. I didn't think others had had the same kind things happen to them, and I began to finally look at all that had happened to me. I found a lot of striking similarities in the various stories. I had no idea how prevalent sexual abuse really is. May all abuse victems find solace and find a way through the pain and shame and derive some healing.

I found this book to be most needed in the gay community, since he is the only author with balls enough to conquer a subject so taboo. HATS OFF TO HIM!!! Chock full of ideas Scarce has given me and others hope that this taboo subject will not be swept under the rug anymore. Thank you Michael.

I've read Michael Scarce's work before, I've worked with him in a professional capacity, and I can understand how his personality translates to the text of this book. I feel the facts and stories that are given are very crucial to the content of the book, but I also feel very strongly that the rhetorical nature of the book detracts from it. It is one thing to add meaning to stories and statistics through explanation; quite another to inflame it with dogma.