Men are stronger than women. Men can’t be raped. Only women are raped.

Unfortunately, these are common beliefs in my culture. People are finally acknowledging the seriousness of female rape, but what about male rape? Shouldn’t it be given equivalent importance? The answer to this is quite obvious. A rape is a rape, whether it is of a man or a woman, and the severity of this crime should be accepted irrespective of the victim’s gender.

I conducted an informal survey of peers in my school and people in my neighborhood and came across a lot people who gave unacceptable and shocking responses when  I brought up the subject of male rape. I got responses like, “Really? What? Are you serious? Even men are raped?” and “Is there a different term for male rape?” and “Rape of a man is still considered rape?” According to the survey I conducted, male rape is mainly ignored because people are ashamed of being harassed. They are ashamed of admitting that they were raped when they barely know about sexual activity to begin with, when they barely know the difference between a good touch and a bad touch, when they barely knew how their organs and their bodies function. Many people thought that being raped at this age didn’t matter as much because you barely understood it. But rape can cause trauma. What if it wanders in your thoughts every second of every day? What if the doesn’t let you sleep? What if it won’t let you be happy in life?

As humans, we need to get this straight in our minds. Potentially destroying someone for the rest of their lives is unacceptable. During the survey, many of the people confessed anonymously that they had been raped or were being harassed but didn’t do anything about it. They thought they would not be heard, or that no one would believe them, which could be true in a society where even males don’t consider male rape a “real” rape. How does the victim survive this?

I also came across people who believed that laws on rape are really weak and that there is a strong need to rebuild the justice system. But these people are rarely visible. Perhaps they afraid to speak out. Maybe they think that no one will listen to them if they talk about something highly ignored in our society. It’s high time this changes. If you’re not comfortable protesting on roads for days, start by consoling and supporting a victim.