Effects of Marital Rape on Men
Physical effects – Sexual abuse results in severe emotional and often physical trauma. The symptoms and injuries most frequently noted are tension headaches, ulcers, nausea, colitis, abrasions to the throat, black eyes and broken bones. The data from hospital emergency rooms show that male rape victims are more likely to have non-genital injuries than females and that they are more likely to neglect seeking medical attention if the injuries are not significant.
Psychological effects – Rape victims, males and females, may find it difficult to report the sexual assault against them. This is very damaging to victims, both to their mental states and to how people treat them in case of disclosure of their ordeal. Elizabeth Donovan, a psychotherapist, stated that males have the added burden of facing a society that does not believe that rape can happen to them at all.
Since most studies have found that people tend to blame the victim man of Marital Rape for the incident often with humiliating tags like impotent, a study called Gender Differences in Attributions of Blame for Male Rape Victims in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence focused on where the blame lies in rape cases. In cases of female rape victims, a higher proportion of males than females tend to blame the victim for the sexual assault. This study implies that even in cases of male sexual victimization, the male victims are held responsible for the assault by the majority of the uninvolved population.
Long-term effects
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Pressure to prove his manhood physically and sexually (becoming stronger and engaging in dangerous or violent behaviour; having multiple female sexual partners).
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Confusion over gender and sexual identity.
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Sense of being an inadequate man.
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Sense of lost power, control, and confidence in his manhood.
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Problems with closeness and intimacy.
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Sexual problems.
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Suicide possibility