Breaking down Gender Stereotypes

Browsing through my followed blogs, the Scottish Parliament Petition blog mentioned the petition from the Men in Scotland webpage asking that all publicly funded domestic abuse/rape bodies recognise and cater for male victims of domestic abuse and rape.

The petition's description:

Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to ensure that all publicly funded action (campaigns, publications, action plans, projects, training programmes, etc.) on domestic abuse/violence are overhauled to fully acknowledge the extent to which men are at the receiving end and to address the needs of male victims and their children.

They had 409 signatures.

Men in Scotland are absolutely correct in asking that the resources for male survivors of rape and domestic abuse be expanded. Scotland's main rape resource is Rape Crisis Scotland. When you look at the resources for people who are asking for their help (located under "How we can help"), you notice all of their centres are run "for women by women". When you click the helpful "Men and boys" on the sidebar, they recommend looking in their links section. The help they recommend is in mental health, men as survivors of abuse, the National Association of Male Sexual Abuse Survivors (website not found!), and two US sites. Where's a Scottish guy to go? Google "Scotland male rape help" and all you get is the Scotsman article from 2003!

Under Scots law, only a man can rape. The 2009 Sexual Offenses Act defines rape as:

(1) If a person (“A”), with A’s penis—
(a) without another person (“B”) consenting, and
(b) without any reasonable belief that B consents,
penetrates to any extent, either intending to do so or reckless as to whether there is penetration, the vagina, anus or mouth of B then A commits an offence, to be known as the offence of rape.

One good thing about this is that "penis" includes "surgically constructed" penii. Another good thing is that you can be orally and anally raped, thus allowing men to be qualified as victims as well as women.

But the British reluctance to recognise women as potential sources of violent abuse is still strong. When it broke that a female nursery worker in Plymouth had created and distributed child porn of her young wards, shock rippled through the nation.

Up to 64,000 women 'are child-sex offenders'! (The Guardian 4 Oct 2009)

When the face of evil is female! (The Scotsman 4 Oct 2009)

Female abusers are more prevalent than anyone likes to believe! (Times Online 1 Oct 2009)

Females And Sex Abuse: The Ultimate Taboo! (Sky News 1 Oct 2009) (Alternately titled: Female Paedophilia: The Ultimate Taboo -- The Scale of Sexual Abuse by Women)

Feminism began as a call for people to recognise that men and women were equal. Yet people are still shocked when women complete the same atrocities that men do. It's bad for men to be drunk and fight and vomit on the streets, but it's HORRIBLE and SCANDALOUS for women to do so! It's bad when men rape and abuse, but it's SHOCKING and UNNATURAL for women to do so! It's bad when women are raped, but it's UNHEARD OF for men to be so! Until men and women are treated the same in terms of their actions -- not their genitalia -- we will not see equality.

This petition to recognise and help male survivors of rape and sexual abuse is one step in the right direction.