Male Rape: Or Femail Rape?

An awful story, if true, but why has The Mail filed it under Femail?

PS This week's most odd use of 'LGBT'; ' Now, I have decided that enough is enough and that the discussion of rape within men who have sex with men (MSM), LGBT and heterosexual communities is an issue I needed to raise.'

Just say 'gay', sake.

Independent Voices: Decisions, Decisions...

Gay mis lit or gay happy clappy?

The two default options for Teh Gays In The Media!!!

Hard to know where to go...

Survivors UK: A Struggle To Survive

The rape and sexual abuse of men and boys is one of the least recognised, discussed or reported crimes in our society. Despite this stigma, more men in London are coming forward to report sexual assaults and taking the courageous step of asking for help:

In 2014, in London, 307 men reported being raped to the Metropolitan Police – an increase of 120% over 2012 figures

In 2014, in London, 518 men reported experiencing a serious sexual assault to the Metropolitan Police – an increase of 80% over 2012 figures

In 2014, in London, 20%+ of all reports of serious sexual crimes were against men

In London, in 2014, it is estimated that there are more than 300,000 adult male survivors of childhood sexual abuse

In 2014, in London, The Mayor spent £1,292,666 providing specialist support services for victims of sexual assault in London.

Of that, £32,666 (2.5%) was spent on specialist services supporting men and boys...

In 2015, in London, funding to specialist male sexual violence services has been cut to £0.

Survivors UK.

Their petition to Mayor of London Boris Johnson.

I was raped by another man. And now the government wants to take away the one thing that saved my life, Independent Voices.

Hollyoaks: Male Rape

HOLLYOAKS bosses are planning the soap’s most hard-hitting storyline yet — where a gay teacher is raped by his pupil.

After suffering months of homophobic bullying teacher John Paul McQueen — played by James Sutton — will be raped by 16-year-old Finn O’Connor (Keith Rice) in a humiliating assault.

As Hollyoaks is shown on weekdays at 6.30pm C4 bosses will not screen the actual attack. Instead they will focus on the aftermath.

The soap worked with charities, expert advisers and male rape victims on how to bring the story to the screen.

Executive producer Bryan Kirkwood said: “We have an important story to tell that has not been told before. Hollyoaks is known for talking about difficult issues.”

The Sun.

Fagburn's learned to be sceptical of The Sun breaking big scandalous soap stories, but this has been confirmed on the E4 website.
Like Channel 4's recent Sex Box, these TV programmes always tread a fine 625 lines between audience-grabbing sensationalism and helping open taboo subjects up for discussion.

Interesting to note that even The Sun these days use the term "male rape" - not "gay rape".

MediaGuardian today however got extremely confused...

Update: An eagle-eyed viewer informs me that Hollyoaks has done a groundbreaking and "important story to tell that has not been told before" etc male rape story before, back in 2000. 

Oops to Fagburn and the 'Oaks!

Mail On Sunday: Nigel Evans' Arrest

Haven't seen all of Sunday's front pages yet, but so far the Mail is the only paper to put in their headline Nigel Evans was arrested over an allegation of "gay rape" - a loaded term no-one uses anymore.
I think they mean "male rape" - others thought "rape" sufficed.
Whilst Evans is gay - he came out in 2010 in... the Mail On Sunday - the inclusion of the word here seems at best odd/off. 
The MoS also missed out a word present in other headlines... "Tory".
Must be difficult to know which words to prioritise with a story like this, eh?
Anyway, let the feeding frenzy begin.

Update: The Sun Sunday have used the same terrible terminology in their, err, "exclusive".

Male Rape: And Words As Weapons

Yesterday's The Sun Sunday began its front page story with these lines; "A YOUNG squaddie at Prince Harry's Army base was the victim of a shocking gay sex attack, it was claimed last night. A drunken gang of three soldiers allegedly pinned him down as he slept at Wattisham, Suffolk..."
This is terrible terminology.
Why did The Sun use the phrase "gay sex attack", and not "sex attack?
Monday's tabloids usually repeat their rivals' Sunday scoops - sometimes they even give attribution - but the Express, Mirror and Star all appear to have ignored this story.
The Daily Mail ran it, using the same strange phrase as The Sun; "A young soldier at Prince Harry's army base was the victim of a drunken gay sex attack, it was claimed yesterday."
The only broadsheets to cover the story, The Times and The Independent, both used simply "sex attack".
Shamefully, Gay Star News wrote; "A young soldier at Prince Harry's UK army base was allegedly pinned down and assualted [sic] during a 'horrifying' gay sex attack."
A journalist writing for the gay media really should know better than this.
Much better.
(Pink News wrote of a "male sexual assault" or "sexual assault", Pink Paper said a man had allegedly been "sexually assaulted").
As Patrick Strudwick wrote in The Times last month; "The language we use only seems to collude with the stigma. The rape of men is routinely referred to as “gay rape” belying the mistaken belief that rape is about sex — rather than power — and therefore that it must be performed by, or to, gay men."
Tellingly, this is one of only two articles about male rape in the British press I'm aware of in the three years I've been writing Fagburn.
The other was in The Observer.
The strapline read; "Will Storr travels to Uganda to meet traumatised survivors, and reveals how male rape is endemic in many of the world's conflicts."
That Storr was writing about soldiers and civilian casualties in war zones reinforces how male rape and sexual assault are often about power - and there's nothing "gay" about them.

•  The image shows a poster produced earlier this year by Survivors UK.
"The helpline is for adult men (18 and over) who have experienced childhood sexual abuse or adult sexual assault/rape, as well as their partners and carers."  

The Sun Sunday: The Return Of Mr Hyde

Like Dr Jekyll falling behind his lab table ready to rise as Mr Hyde, you can almost smell The Sun Sunday turning back into The News Of The World.
Early editions of The SOS were much criticised for being bland and unsensational, but now it's getting back to its bad old ways.
Today's cover story has got it all; Tenuous links to the Royal Family! Squaddies! Bizarre sexual practices! Anti-gay innuendo!
'A YOUNG squaddie at Prince Harry's Army base was the victim of a shocking gay sex attack, it was claimed last night. 'A drunken gang of three soldiers allegedly pinned him down as he slept at Wattisham, Suffolk...'
I bet this caused a collective "Phwoar!' in the newsroom.
The Sun seem unaware - or perhaps just don't care - that nobody catagorises "male rape" as "gay", anymore.
The item also includes phrases like "Sex at attack Harry's base" or "a military probe is under way", which don't seem unfortunate, just extremely childish.
Welcome back (school) boys.