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LISA DREHER

Journalist

Education reporter for the Laredo Morning Times in the Texas border city of Laredo. Graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in the fall of 2018 with a journalism degree and history minor. Interned at hyperlocal news site, the Austin Monitor, and Austin’s main legacy paper, the Austin American-Statesman. I was a senior news reporter for The Daily Texan, UT’s official college newspaper, for which I have covered state and local politics. Print journalist skillfull in multimedia tools, such as video and audio storytelling using Adobe Suite

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'Afraid to be vulnerable’: A male student opens up about being a sexual assault survivor

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Editor’s note: The name of the source has been changed to protect their privacy.

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James wasn’t sure what to think walking back to his apartment after a one-night stand with a man he met on a dating app his freshman year at UT. All he knew was he felt more vulnerable than ever before.

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“At first I didn’t classify it as rape because it didn’t feel like rape, but then it was like, ‘What does rape feel like?’” James said. “But if a friend told me that experience, I would probably just say ‘rape,’ but I wouldn’t talk about it. I was afraid to be vulnerable around men for a long time after that.”

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As a man, James said he struggles sharing his story because of the stigma that male sexual assault survivors are weak or were not assaulted to begin with.

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“It affected who I was fundamentally as a man, because being violated is not necessarily the description of what you would consider a man to (be),” he said.

Thirty-nine complaints alleging sexual assault were filed by men to UT’s Title IX Office for the 2017–2018 academic school year, according to information obtained by The Daily Texan through a Texas Public Information Act request. During the same year, 171 complaints alleging sexual assault were filed by women. 

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James said he did not report his incident to police for fear of a long and painful legal process. 

 

Research shows these gaps are consistent with the typical ratio of reports by men and by women, Title IX Office Coordinator Krista Anderson said.

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“If someone who is male-identifying has been victimized, the likelihood they’ll likely come forward is greatly reduced because of social norms, cultural norms of men and masculinity,” Anderson said.

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Organizations and services such as UT’s Counseling and Mental Health Center, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network and the organization 1in6 — which specifically helps male and male-identifying survivors — offer multiple resources such as support groups and hotlines for survivors on campus.

Seth Stewart is the development and communications director for 1in6, named after the statistic that 1 in 6 men will be sexually assaulted or abused.

 

Men often do not come forward because of social norms about masculinity, Stewart said.

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“They’ll call it hazing, they’ll call it humiliation,” Stewart said. “Part of that is sort of putting it in a certain box to preserve a certain kind of strength or confidence or masculinity.”

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James said he blamed himself for the incident and worked out more to try to fight the idea that he was too weak to fight off the perpetrator. He now does not feel comfortable being alone with men.

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“Before it happened to me, I never thought how large a guy could be, how he could overpower me,” James said. “That’s probably a thing that many women think about a lot, but for me, that never was. I started working out a lot after I was assaulted. I think about the fact that I was probably scrawny then … like it was my own fault for not being stronger.”

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James said he did not disclose the incident to many friends, and he anticipates mostly negative reactions after sharing because society frames sexual abuse and harassment of men as humorous or not at all something to be taken seriously. 

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“For me, I’m bisexual, and I would never talk about this with a girl I was interested in because of masculinity,” James said.

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The fact that men are less likely to report being sexually assaulted, as well as typically being the perpetrators of sexual violence on women, both contribute to the discrepancy between reports by men and women, Anderson said.

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“I think because we see a higher rates of victimization of women, that in itself is going to be a disproportionate number of complaints from women,” Anderson said. “When we do see men have been victimized in some way, shape or form, they feel less comfortable coming forward. And not that everything is men-on-women (or) women-on-men, we see same-sex violence as well.”

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About 15 percent of female UT students and 5 percent of male students reported being raped at UT, according to the 2017 Cultivating Learning and Safe Environments survey.

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Men are often are left out of the dialogue about sexual assault, which should include discussion about more men without taking away from women’s experiences, Stewart said.

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“There can be — and not all the time of course — sometimes the automatic assumption that men are bystanders watching this happen to women or they’re perpetrators,” Stewart said. “So, thinking about a man as a survivor is not the first place that some people’s minds go to.”

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Using alcohol and drugs to cope with sexual assault often occurs during college, Stewart said. James said he drank and used drugs to deal with his trauma.

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James said he is currently doing better after time has passed, but he knows the psychological effects will follow him. He hopes more people have empathy, not only when survivors disclose but when they are coping with the trauma in their daily lives following the assault.

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“People have a tendency to treat male victims of sexual assault like ‘it’s your fault for not being man enough. It shouldn’t really have affected you that much. Why is this a big deal?’” James said. “Especially if you’re a straight guy, it’s like, ‘You got sex, why are you treating this like it’s a bad thing?’”

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Democrat congressman announces challenge to Sen. Ted Cruz

  • Writer: Lisa Dreher
    Lisa Dreher
  • Apr 2, 2017
  • 2 min read

A Democratic congressman from El Paso, Beto O’Rourke, announced Friday he will challenge incumbent U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018 as an underdog opponent to a national conservative leader.

O’Rourke, currently in his third term representing District 16, stopped by Austin to gain momentum among Texas Democrats after announcing his run for senator in his hometown of El Paso. Championing better veteran services, affordable health care and term limits, O’Rourke said Saturday the race against Cruz in a red state will be challenging.


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“1988 was the last time this state sent a Democrat to the Senate,” O’Rourke said to his supporters in Austin. “We’re going to decide 2018 is our year.”


Former U.S. Sen. Lloyd Bentsen was the last Democrat to represent Texas in the Senate after his reelection in 1988. Cruz, in his third term as senator, gained strong support among Republicans for his presidential bid in 2016.


O'Rourke, a technology entrepreneur and former musician, may also see competition from potential challenger U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, a high-profile Democrat from San Antonio.


O’Rourke said President Donald Trump’s immigration orders, which Cruz supports, are fear mongering and distracting.


“Not a single terrorist, terrorist plot, or terrorist organization has ever used the Mexico border with Texas or the United States to do harm to anybody in this country,” O’Rourke said.


“Despite all of that, we’ve got our president talking about military-style roundups in our communities.”


O’Rourke said he will not support his campaign through PAC funding but rather through grassroots tactics. O’Rourke said he will fight to keep the Affordable Care Act after Cruz said last month Republicans must attempt to repeal it again.


O’Rourke also said his bipartisan goals include raising funding for veteran services and placing term limits, saying he would commit himself to a two-term limit.


“Letting (senators) get reelected forever until they die or retire of their own volition, that’s not a democracy,” O’Rourke told the Daily Texan.


Joshua Blank, manager of The Texas Politics Project, a polling project within the College of Liberal Arts, said O’Rourke must garner more attention from Texas Democrats.


“Representative O’Rourke is really a non-entity at this point,” Blank said. “Given the Texas Democratic Party has been relatively absent in most recent races, in a lot of ways having some in-fighting would actually revitalize the party.”


Government professor David Prindle said O’Rourke has a slim chance of winning since Texas Democrats have a low voter turnout. Prindle said O’Rourke should try to connect Cruz to Trump.


“Ted Cruz is probably the most hated man in the Senate,” Prindle said. “The only possible strategy I can see for O’Rourke is, if by election day 2018, Donald Trump is hated and O’Rourke can manage to tie Cruz to Trump.”


Government and economics senior Samantha Minkowitz, and College Republicans vice president, said she is doubtful Texas will elect a Democrat over Cruz.


“I support Ted Cruz,” said Minkowitz. “I think he is incredibly smart, articulate and knowledgeable. I believe that Texas will remain red, at least for the foreseeable future.”

Hiram Garcia, an international relations and global studies sophomore, interned for O’Rourke in 2015. Garcia, who is from El Paso, said O’Rourke’s grassroots campaign sets him apart.


“He spends a lot of his extra time just talking to everyday, regular people,” Garcia said. “He’s just a really nice guy.”














 
 
 

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