Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig Medical Faculty, Semmelweisstr. 10, Leipzig, 04103, Germany.
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig Medical Center, Leipzig, Germany.
BMC Public Health. 2024 Sep 3;24(1):2396. doi: 10.1186/s12889-024-19913-9.
Stigma is a key barrier to disclosing traumatic experiences of violence in childhood with adverse consequences for help-seeking behaviour. Disclosing behavior differs by gender and the form of violence experienced. However, there is a lack of comprehensive studies that address societal perceptions of males and females with a history of sexual or physical violence in childhood. Therefore, our aim is to focus on the impact of gender on the perception of individuals who experienced sexual or physical violence in childhood.
We conducted a study on a representative sample of the German general population in terms of age and gender. Participants were randomly assigned to brief case vignettes addressing sexual or physical violence in childhood. Analyses base on a sample of n = 659 individuals (50.1% female). Stigma was assessed through examining respondents' readiness to address specific traumas in conversation and respondents' attitudes toward the individuals in the vignettes. Mann-Whitney U tests were applied to check for differences between female and male victims and survivors as well as female and male respondents.
Our results reveal that male victims and survivors face higher negative stereotypes (harm, unpredictability) and evoke communication barriers more often when compared to female victims and survivors, especially in male respondents. Sexual violence is associated with more distinct gender differences than physical violence.
Findings reflect greater stigma toward male victims and survivors of sexual violence than female ones. Men had a greater tendency to stigmatize - especially toward their same-gender peers. Socially ingrained gender roles may act as a basis for different communication cultures and the notion of victim-perpetrator constellations in which males are not envisaged as victims.
污名是披露儿童期创伤性暴力经历的一个关键障碍，对寻求帮助的行为有不利影响。披露行为因性别和经历的暴力形式而异。然而，缺乏全面的研究来解决社会对有儿童期性暴力或身体暴力史的男性和女性的看法。因此，我们的目的是关注性别对经历过儿童期性暴力或身体暴力的个体的看法的影响。
我们在年龄和性别方面对德国一般人群进行了一项代表性研究。参与者被随机分配到简短的案例描述中，涉及儿童期的性暴力或身体暴力。分析基于 n = 659 名个体（50.1%为女性）的样本。通过检查受访者在对话中处理特定创伤的意愿以及受访者对案例描述中个体的态度来评估污名。应用曼-惠特尼 U 检验来检查女性和男性受害者和幸存者以及女性和男性受访者之间的差异。
我们的结果表明，与女性受害者和幸存者相比，男性受害者和幸存者面临更高的负面刻板印象（伤害、不可预测性），并且更经常引起沟通障碍，尤其是在男性受访者中。性暴力比身体暴力更能引起明显的性别差异。
研究结果反映了对男性性暴力受害者和幸存者的污名化程度高于女性受害者和幸存者。男性更倾向于污名化 - 尤其是对他们同性别的同龄人。社会固有的性别角色可能是不同沟通文化的基础，以及受害者-加害者组合的概念，其中男性不被视为受害者。
