According to reports, a 22-year-old man was gang-raped in Mumbai in December.
The alleged crime took place when four stalkers tracked the victim’s location via a selfie he posted on Instagram. Out of the four accused, one happened to be a minor. The four got the information about the restaurant the victim was at through the internet and initially approached him as fans. They then asked him to accompany them on a bike ride. They drove around for 20 minutes before forcing him into a car and gang-raping him.
With the increasing reports about women facing sexual assaults, people often forget that this is something faced by men too. Unfortunately, these incidents never come to light because many male victims fear that society would see them as weak. This particular case brings to light that rapes are not just exclusive to women but happen to men too.
It’s important to talk about male victims of sexual assault because, in a world where we are trying to reduce (end just seems too big of an expectation right now) rapes, we can’t look at it as a gendered problem.
In order to create a safer world, one needs to start addressing sexual violence as a problem faced by all humans and not just by one gender.