Hidden in plain sight: Men's lived experiences with sexual violence as college students

Abstract

Men's experiences with sexual violence are an understudied subject within sociological literature. Despite some past research endeavors that have focused on men, little is known regarding the ways that men college students grapple with their lived experiences with sexual violence. Using a sample of 29 active men college students, semi structured interviews were conducted in order to investigate the ways in which men conceptualize their experiences with sexual violence in their own words. Results indicate that masculinity is intimately connected to sexual violence victimhood, as men can consider themselves victims, but in very distinct ways. Masculinity also acts as a sort of 'buffer', in that many men who were interviewed for this research describe their experiences with sexual violence in ways that are similar to women's experiences, but they also express difficulty in accurately framing these experiences using linguistic framing mechanisms. Additionally, men's sense of their masculinity after their experiences with sexual violence can have profound impacts on subsequent sexual behavior. Future directions for research are also explored.