Fact: Men Experience Sexual Harassment Too

Throughout the course I have tried to relate all of my topics centered on the theme of sexuality and gender in war, and one thing that came to mind while determining how to end this post was our lecture in torture, this picture in particular:

*sensitive content below*

Sexual harassment is often something associated with women, we seem to ignore the fact that men can be victims of this source of abuse as well, let alone it is never assumed that a woman is performing this type of torment.  

It was shocking to me to see this photo, only because I would have never thought a woman would perform in an action that is too often performed on women themselves. Terrorism is too often limited to physical acts and are never linked to emotional trauma.

Elaine Scarry says that “sexuality” is a source of power, asserting a certain dominance allows someone to believe their power has enhanced. In Professor Lazo’s lecture on Barbarians and barbarianism there are recorded accounts of men who were tormented through sexual assault/harassment and describe what has happened to them.

It was also alarming how shocked I was that I had never heard of this treatment before. Sexual harassment toward men is so rarely talked about that it’s extremely difficult to comprehend that it actually happens, and in a way that is traumatizing, in the same way it happens to women.

I believe that this is a “gender norm”, or a socially constructed idea, that men cannot experience sexual assault. Men are portrayed as too masculine and are labeled with stereotypes that contradicts the idea that they can be a target of assault.

It’s disappointing that issues that happen every day and can happen at any moment are overlooked because of certain stereotypes or because society sees them as a non-normality.