• About three percent of American men-a total of 2.78 million-have experienced an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime. (Prevalence, Incidence and Consequences of Violence Against Women 1998 - pdf).
• In 2002, one in every eight rape victims were male.
  (National Crime Victimization Survey 2002 - pdf).
• Sexual assault is not about sex, it is about power and control. Sex should never be a tool to prove one's strength over a woman or another man.
• Male sexual assault does not always occur in homosexual situations. It often occurs between heterosexual men. Male sexual assault has nothing to do with the sexual orientation of the attacker or the victim, just as sexual assault does not make the victim survivor gay, bisexual, or heterosexual. It is a violent crime that affects heterosexual men as much as gay men. The phrase "homosexual rape," for instance, which is often used by uninformed persons to designate male-male rape, camouflages the fact that the majority of the rapists are not generally homosexual (www.maleweb.org).
• Alcohol and drugs played a significant role in sexual victimization. Seventeen percent of the women and 9 percent of the men said someone had attempted to have intercourse with them when they didn't want to after giving them alcohol or drugs. And 6 percent of the women and 4 percent of the men said they had sex when they didn't want to after being given alcohol and drugs. Overall, 34 men (21 percent of the male participants) and 36 women (28 percent) reported being recipients of one or more of five types of unwanted sexual contact listed on a gender-neutral questionnaire used by the researchers.
  (University of Washington 7/26/99)
• Women are also responsible for sexual assault toward men.
• The National Center for Victims of Crime says that that as many as 45 percent of females and 43 percent of males reported being the victim of violence from dating partners at least once. (University of Washington Addictive Behaviors Research Center 7/26/99)
• There are many reasons that male victims do not come forward and report being raped, but perhaps the biggest reason for many males is the fear of being perceived as homosexual. One of the greatest myths is that rapes occur in prison. Existing research shatters this myth. Another major concern facing male rape victims is society's belief that men should be able to protect themselves and, therefore, it is somehow their fault that they were raped. Dr. Alan W. McEvoy says that the stigma of rape is as devastating to male victims as it is to females who are attacked. The idea, for a man, that he cannot defend himself against such an attack can be embarrassing beyond words, or even thoughts.

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