(04-03-2016, 09:54 PM)Belle Wrote: Interesting, I would consider the rape of a man to be more troublesome in our society. Certainly male victims of sexual assault are in an exceptionally difficult position due to the ways most people perceive masculinity and a victim's identity.
I used to teach sexuality courses to undergrads and it taught me that any male who is raped is, in many ways, in a worse position than a female one due to a wide range of factors (i.e. people reject the idea men can be raped, support services designed for men are not widely available, the stigma attached to a male rape victim can be extreme, assaults in some settings (prisons) are viewed as punitive, etc...).
Well that's exactly why I said, at least from a storytelling perspective, culturally male rape (especially female-on-male rape) is not viewed as egregiously as male-on-female rape. They're fictional characters, as you said, so we cant really talk about the trauma they're experiencing...they only exist inasmuch as they're perceived by others, so the important thing is how others perceive them. Intellectually, should we be more troubled by male rape for all the reasons you cited? Sure, maybe...but viscerally, immediately, which disturbs the average viewer more? When its a woman.