Rape death and resurrection: male reaction after disclosure of the secret of being a rape victim.

Males are also rape victims. The scant information we have on this phenomenon can be explained by its rarity or by the reluctance of male victims to disclose their past victimization. In this study, 23.8% of 235 prisoners that were interviewed disclosed their past sexual abuse. Eleven suffered an acute reaction (for example, attempted suicide). 77.7% of the prisoners who did not have an acute reaction after this disclosure were sex offenders. Sexual abuse has a special meaning for the male victim. Their gender identity and gender image are tarnished by the use which another male had with their body. It seems that sex offenders come to terms with this fact by acting out or by proving their sexual virility in a strange and cruel way. This article describes male prisoners' reactions after their disclosure of having been a rape victim, and suggests a tentative explanation, based on theory and therapeutic experience.