Medical visits tough for male sex abuse victims

New research suggests that men who were sexually abused in childhood struggle in their relations with their doctor or other healthcare provider, and many of these healthcare providers do not realize it.

While both male and female victims of childhood sexual abuse have similar anxieties and fears about seeing a doctor, "it's doubly difficult for males to come forward after they've been sexually abused, because many men have difficulty identifying and expressing their feelings," Gerri Lasiuk, a PhD student in the University of Alberta Faculty of Nursing said in a university statement.

"Given the pervasive stereotype of men as strong, in control, and always able to defend themselves, even health professionals have a hard time recognizing men as victims, especially if their abuser was a woman," said Lasiuk, who co-authored a paper on this topic in the journal Issues in Mental Health Nursing.

Based on interviews with 46 male childhood sexual abuse victims, Lasiuk and associates found that a variety of healthcare providers including nurses, physical therapists, physicians, dentists, chiropractors, dentists and massage therapists, often displayed insensitive behavior.

For example, "many male survivors felt that healthcare providers are more skeptical toward male claims of abuse than they are of similar female claims," Lasiuk said. "When the abuser was a woman, there was an attitude of, 'So what? Isn't that every boy's fantasy?" Lasiuk added.

A boy who is abused sexually, Lasiuk added, may become confused about his sexual identify as he matures.

He may not tell anyone about the abuse for fear of being labeled homosexual, although recent high profile disclosures of child sexual abuse may make it easier for male survivors to come forward, Lasiuk said.

Male childhood sexual abuse victims often worry that they too will become abusers themselves. "The research is clear that only a small percentage of survivors go on to be abusers," according to Lasiuk.

It is estimated that 5 to 10 percent of men and 20 percent of women suffered sexual abuse in childhood.

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SOURCE: Issues in Mental Health Nursing, June 2006.