Police responses to, and attitudes towards, male rape
| Published date | 01 June 2015 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1461355715580914 |
| Date | 01 June 2015 |
| Author | Aliraza Javaid |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Police responses to, and attitudes
towards, male rape: Issues and concerns
Aliraza Javaid
Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK
Abstract
This article critically examines how the police respond to, and deal with, male rape victims. It also explores male rape
victims’ experiences of the police. This is an issue that has been hugely overlooked in the growing literature on the
treatment of sexual offences in the criminal justice system; that is, the treatment of adult male sexual assault and male
rape complainants by police officers. To fill this gap in the literature, this article will explore findings from empirical
studies of police attitudes alongside an increasing amount of research that has examined the experiences of male rape
victims. This article also explores social attitudes to male rape victims and the different ways wherein such attitudes
influence the police responses to male rape victims. Moreover, this article recognises three barriers to the recognition
of male rape: police statistics; the under-reporting of male rape; and the masculine police subculture and policing
homosexuality. Finally, the article concludes by considering potential strategies for improving the treatment of male
rape victims in England and Wales.
Keywords
Masculinity, sexuality, male rape, gender expectations, police and policing, victims
Submitted 17 Sep 2014, accepted 12 Mar 2015
Introduction
In the last two decades, there has been an increase in
research surrounding male rape:
1
rape in prison (King,
1993); rape in the general population (Lees, 1997); rape
in the army (Belkin, 2008; Mulkey, 2004; Turchik and
Edwards, 2012); feminist responses to male rape (Javaid,
2014c); and also the dynamics, impact and nature of male
rape (Abdullah-Khan, 2008; Javaid, 2014a, 2014b, 2014c;
Walker et al., 2005). More recently, there has been research
on how the media portray male rape (Cohen, 2014).
These research studies have challenged many male rape
myths
2
and have highlighted the extent to which mis-
understandings pertaining to male rape influence the atti-
tudes of the wider community. However, research on the
police responses to, and attitudes towards, male rape vic-
tims is lacking in England and Wales. This article attempts
to fill this gap in the literature on sexual violence, as it
explores how the police respond to, and deal with, male
rape victims.
Research on male rape in the UK is lacking; in contrast
to female rape where it is more prevalent. Research that is
available on male rape rests either on analysed quantitative
data sets of male rape victims’ experiences or on case out-
comes, or direct interviews with male rape victims.
Although male rape victims’ experiences are certainly
worthy of research, it is vital also to explore the experi-
ences and perspectives of the police who process male rape
cases, not only because they are vital to the recovery of
such victims and the outcome of such cases, but also
because they interact with countless victims with varied
experiences.
Corresponding author:
Aliraza Javaid, Leeds Beckett University, Department of Social, Psycholo-
gical and Communication Sciences, Caverley Building, Leeds, LS1 3HE,
UK.
Email: ali_2p9@hotmail.co.uk
International Journalof
Police Science & Management
2015, Vol. 17(2) 81–90
ªThe Author(s) 2015
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DOI: 10.1177/1461355715580914
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