The Minister for Woman and Child Development Maneka Gandhi has responded to a petition filed by a social activist who said “male child sexual abuse is an ignored reality in India” by sharing plans of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights to conduct a first-of-its-kind study on male survivors of child sexual abuse. Citing the new ordinance to impart death penalty to rapists of girls below the age of 12, the minister categorically stated that there won’t be tolerance for any kind of sexual violence against children and all criminals will be dealt with severe action.

The move has been a welcome step in the direction towards the cause of male sexual abuse, which has never been addressed with the same seriousness as female sexual abuse. Sexual abuse has predominantly been spoken about in the context of crimes against women and girl children. The truth is that sexual abuse can happen to anyone, irrespective of a person’s age or age. And unfortunately, the physiological and psychological repercussions of sexual assaults are the same in both genders, and in many ways, the trauma can be even worse in men. Despite being a largely patriarchal society, which victimises its women, India has not done anything significant to protect its boys. A study, published in 2017 in the Indian Journal of Psychiatry, explored the challenges faced by male victims so sexual abuse. Here are some of the findings:

1 More Boys Are Abused Than Girls in India

The Ministry of Women and Child Welfare, along with United Nations Children's Fund, save the children and Prayas conducted a survey in 2007 and found that 53.22 percent of the children faced one or more forms of sexual abuse. And shockingly, 52.94 percent among them were boys, which means more boys are subjected to sexual violence than girls. Among the 69 percent of physically abused children, 54.6 percent were boys and 88.6 percent of them were abused by their parents.

2 Child Protection Services in India are Utilised More by Girls than Boys

Many cases of female abuses are discovered due to pregnancy and familial abuses end when the girl is married. But cases of male abuse are more hidden than those of female victims. A study shows that child protection services rendered by nongovernmental agencies or hospitals are utilised mostly by girl victims than boys. The trend could point towards the possible neglect of male abuse victims and low disclosure rate of sexual violence against boys.

3 Male Survivors Experience Confusion about their Sexual Orientation

Most abuses of females happen in a heterosexual context. But in case of boys, they happen to be abused by men, leading to confusion in sexual orientation in the victims. Many end up doubting whether they are homosexuals. The problem is only compounded by the social attitudes towards homosexuality, which makes male victims less forth coming about their abuse. The resultant homophobia makes male survivors indulge in over sexualised behaviour.

4 Male survivors Blame Themselves More

Be it domestic or sexual abuse, some victims tend to hold themselves responsible for their abuse or being unable to stop it. Studies say that the tendency to blame themselves is seen more in boys than in girls.

5 Male Victims are Also Subjected to Physical Abuse

Another telling characteristic of male sexual abuse is that it is accompanied by physical abuse, which causes grievous physical injuries. Boys are often abused forcefully and are abused by a gang. Noncontact abuse where victims are not physically abused but made to watch sexual acts are rare in men, which makes abuse more severe in boys.

6 Society Dismisses Male Child Sexual Abuse

The misplaced ideas of chivalry, a by-product of patriarchy, makes the society take heed to girl victims more than male. Society is more dismissive of male child sexual abuse, treating male survivors of abuse as a joke. Boys and men are expected to “man up” and not complain about abuse. Instead of treating them with empathy, they are ridiculed and chided.

When it comes to weeding out sexual abuse of children, boys should be given the same kind of protection as girls. Oddly, the same patriarchal society that gives more freedom of sexual expression to men through pornography, commercial sexual contact and medicines for virility, offers no solace to its male victims and does nothing to protect them. The first steps towards tackling this problem are to offer assistance and acceptance to boys who have experienced sexual abuse and then dismantling toxic patriarchal notions of equating sexual potency with men.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 26, 2018 03:57 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).