Men’s Plight: Raped in reality but not at law
When a Lupane teacher woke up at 5AM to find himself naked, weak, his private parts bruised, realisation dawned on him that he had been raped by women who gave him a lift the previous night.
As The Chronicle reported, the man had intended to travel from Lupane to Bulawayo on the night of 17 February 2017, when he boarded a Toyota Quantum with four light skinned women and one male driver.
It is reported that along the way, the male driver diverted the route under the pretext to pick up someone before the car suddenly stopped; one of the woman covered his eyes, while others held his hands and legs together and forced him to drink an unknown substance that made him pass out.
Aggrieved and in search of justice, the man approached Lupane police station to report that he had been raped and filed his case. However, instead of a rape case, his complaint was filed under aggravated indecent assault, because the country’s Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act section 65 does not recognise forced sex of a man by a female as rape.
This case of a Lupane man is one of the many cases in Zimbabwe and other parts of the world where male victims of sexual assault from women are discriminated against, giving the impression that it is lesser of a serious crime.
Even the media, in covering the cases of male rape that have dominated the Zimbabwean media from 2010 to date, seem inclined to paint the impression that this is not much of a problem since aggravated indecent assault takes the same penalty as rape, yet it’s a big problem with patriarchal roots.
In the words of Zimbabwen lawyer, Douglas Coltart, this undermines the constitutional rights of male victims of rape, he points out in a report, Freedom from all forms of violence.
“This raises serious constitutional concerns relating to discrimination against men and boys who are raped… it fails to recognise that ‘the trauma of the victim is equally severe in all instances of penetration,” he wrote.
In fact, at the global level other countries have since realised this problem and have been expanding their rape laws to protect both women and men.
As of 2005 102 countries had expanded their rape laws to protect both men and women, leaving out 86 countries yet to follow suit, male rape researchers David Frank and Steven Boutcher reported in 2009.
Studies conducted to explain legal bias among other issues related to male rape have all but pointed to one culprit: patriarchy.
In a report published by The Chronicle a few years back, Charles Kungwengwe, a Zimbabwean and law lecturer based in Botswana explained that the problem with patriarchal societies is that women are “either non-existent or invisible
“Having said that, everything associated with them, including crime, is by extension non-existent as well,” explains Kungwengwe.
In fact, as has been shown by studies, social commentator and Sociology lecturer with the Harare Polytechnic, Collen Chisita says patriarchal societies are characterised by particular rape myths, which he define as “prejudicial, stereotyped or false beliefs about rape, rape victims and rapists.”
“It is these rape myths, which in themselves are a result of gender stereotypes, that permeate various institutions including those of medicine, media, law, military, and incarcerated settings,” said Chisita.
A look at Zimbabwe’s Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act will show traces of both these gender stereotypes and rape myths.
Gender Stereotypes in Zimbabwe’s Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Under Zimbabwe’s Criminal Law (Codification and Reform Act), female rape is catered for under section 65 while that of men is treated as aggravated indecent assault, under section 66.
According to section 65, rape occurs:
If a male person knowingly has sexual intercourse or anal sexual intercourse with a female person and, at the time of the intercourse … the female person has not consented to it … and … he knows that she has not consented to it or realises that there is a real risk or possibility that she may not have consented to it … he shall be guilty of rape and liable to imprisonment for life or any shorter period.
On the other hand, under section 66(1) (b) aggravated indecent assault, occurs if: …a female person…has sexual intercourse with or commits upon a male person any other act involving the penetration of any part of the male person’s body or of her own body
Implying that only men can be rapists, the law here starts by putting rape victims into boxes: only females can be raped, and men can only be indecently assaulted.
This division is not innocent or natural, but the work of stereotypical gender roles whereby men are expected to be dominant and women submissive in patriarchal societies.
In fact, studies into male rape, as pointed out in a review paper: An overview of the literature on female-perpetrated adult male sexual victimization by Nicola Fisher and Pina Afridit have shown that such stereotypes have a way of translating into legal definitions of rape.
“With regards to sexual victimization, these traditional gender stereotypes reinforce male rape myths that men cannot be raped, particularly by a female, and they reinforce the legal definition of rape or sexual assault stating that only men could conduct such activities,” they explained.
Thus, this assumption that since they are the dominant ones, they are the ones who are likely to commit rape on the submissive females is implied in the fact that only men can be rapists in Zimbabwe.
Also embedded in this legal definition is patriarchal power politics between Zimbabwean men and women.
In the words of Dr Manase Chiweshe, a gender lecturer at the Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT), men can’t just accept that they can be raped too.
“In my opinion rape is a violent crime which in many ways is about power and control. In patriarchal spaces such power and control is the preserve of men and since men dominate the public institution of law they play out this masculine bias and refuse that women can exert power and control over a man,” he said.
Thus, such laws as the Zimbabwean one comes from the heterosexual masculine ideals where men are expected to be tough, independent, aggressive and dominating.
Ruwadzano Makumbe, a former research assistant with the Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe has a similar explanation to this gender bias in the law.
“The law is like this because masculinity is very much linked to being strong, inquisitive, provider while femininity is tied to docility, submissiveness and so only men are the only ones expected to rape,” she explained.
In a way, including men as potential victims of female perpetrated rape would be contrary to this view as it would portray men as submissive, emotional, compliant, feminine, weak and defenceless.
Rape Myths
Explaining the concept of rape myth in the same article cited above, Fisher and Pina, defined the concept as beliefs that are “widely and persistently held in society which deny, downplay or justify sexual violence.”
These researchers outline a number of male rape myths which can also be seen implicitly embedded in Zimbabwe’s rape law.
Top among these myths are: men are physically stronger and bigger, they instigate sexual intercourse, men can enjoy sex even when being raped, men’s rape is rare, men are emotionally strong to cope with rape, male rape only occurs in prison,.
In their article, Myths About Male Rape: A Literature Review, Psychology of Men and Masculinity male rape researchers Jessica Turchik and Katie Edwards also noted that these myths permeate the legal institutions.
“Male rape myths are not only prevalent among the general public and college students, but among counsellors, medical trainees, law enforcement, and rape crisis workers as well.
They not only perpetuate the occurrence of sexual violence, but also serve to conceal and minimise male rape, which has devastating consequences for the male victim,” they wrote.
The first permeation of male rape myths into Zimbabwe’s law institutions can be noted from its refusal to acknowledge and treat the existence of female perpetrated sexual assault as rape.
Instead, the law is euphemistic and calls it aggravated indecent assault which is an influence of the country’s patriarchy and regards such an act as taboo.
“It is culturally unheard of that man can be raped. Zimbabwe is a patriarchal society whereby men are dominant. Zimbabwe is highly conservative,” said Chisita, the Zimbabwe social commentator.
By labelling men as rapists and only women as victims, the law is also showing the influence and perpetuation of the myth that men are stronger and instigators of sex. The implied assumption here is that men are stronger and women are weaker hence male rape by females cannot be imagined.
This is unfortunate as research has shown that male rape does not only involve the use of force. In a 2003 American study led by Cindy Struckman-Johnson on college students, it was discovered that 58 % of males who had said no to sexual advances from their female partners were later manipulated using less forceful ways such as sexual arousal and repeated requests.
Also linked to the myth that men cannot be raped because they are strong is the misconception that they cannot have an erection unless they are interested which gender expert Dr. Chiweshe calls the biggest “belief of people who dismiss male rape especially men themselves.”
A medical doctor, Admire Nyamutamba, a Zimbabwean who works with the Wanaheda Medical Centre in Namibia argues that this is not a biological fact but a misunderstanding as “anything is possible with the human body.” He even went on to castigate the law for failing to recognise this.
“You know, the law itself is foolish. That is why it keeps on being reviewed. I have seen a lot of men, both young and old reporting these cases of rape by females at hospitals,” said Nyamutamba.
Also implied in the Zimbabwean law’s definition of rape law is the assumption that men do enjoy sex even when being raped, which Dr. Chiweshe also said is one of the major myths behind denial of male rape existence.
“This is the biggest belief of people who dismiss male rape especially men themselves. The argument is that men can easily be aroused even by looking at a woman so this whole idea of rape is fabricated because men get easily aroused. The belief goes beyond this to actually say men want sex every chance they can get it so it is not possible to have a men forced to have
sex,” he said.
Relegation of male sexual assault to section 66 and its subsequent treatment as aggravated indecent assault also reflects another rape myth that male rape is rare. In fact what is seen under this section is that it starts with aggravated indecent assault against women, who are dominantly covered in section 65.
These myths do have other secondary effects that include trivialisation of male rape which also facilitates the existence of this law.
Trivialisation of Male Rape
In the Zimbabwean law, trivialisation of male rape is witnessed through its treatment as aggravated indecent assault.
This trivialisation is also witnessed in the media, for instance in a report; Women raping men in Zimbabwe, Canadian online newspaper SFLCN presents the issue as bizarre, with comical overtones.
Their story begins this way: “Have you heard of women raping men? I bet not! Nonetheless it’s the latest trend of indecent assault on Zimbabwean men.”
Similarly, even a glimpse at comments that were made on social media and online newspapers reveal how men themselves mock the plight of the rape victims
Commenting on The Chronicle’s online article, Trio of female rapists stalk the streets, one reader declared that he wanted “the name of that street that; is manna from heaven.”
In a 1988 study Social Cognitions about adult Male Victims of Female Sexual Assault led by Ronald Smith in it was discovered that because male rape is viewed in sexual terms, the victims are not taken seriously because it is not expected.
“The response of the male subjects suggests that they viewed the episode in sexual terms and failed to grasp the assaultive nature of the rape,” they wrote.
Thus, absence of female rapists from the statute books is not a work of nature where women are incapable of committing the crime, but a result of patriarchal and its subsequent effects.
Women-centric feminism
Indirectly contributing to this is also feminism’s total focus on women’s issues to the neglect of men. In particular, feminism has long defined rape as man’s forced intercourse with a resisting woman.
Even studies conducted by the likes of Fisher and Pina have found this centrism on women problematic. “Traditional feminist theory is based on the premise that the victim of rape or sexual assault is always female and the rapist is always male. This view that the rapist is always male is not illogical considering it represents that of the legal definition and the fact that the majority of rape victims are female.
“However, focusing exclusively on female victimization is problematic because in necessarily attempting to rectify the invisibility and marginalization of women's experiences, little feminist research has considered the male experience.”
The weakness of this definition is that it also perpetuates the myth that only men are sex offenders and it cannot be the other way round, in process leading to neglect of the examination of male experiences.
Harare Polytechnic Sociology Lecturer Collen Chisita also concurs with this view and explains that feminism has neglected male rape for too long.
“By ignoring male rape for so long, feminists have also indirectly contributed to the perpetuation of these male rape myths,” he said.
Besides displaying stereotypical gender beliefs, the definition of rape under Zimbabwe’s law is also a manifestation of rape myths that come from patriarchy.
Thus, even if the Lupane teacher’s assailants are arrested, he will still need to face all these 195 forces that undermine the seriousness of male rape both at law and the society at large.
So will also be the case for other male rape victims whose cases have been reported before that have not yet been prosecuted pending arrests.