File Photo A Waikato University Master’s student has found there are no easy answers to the under-reporting of sexual assaults by gay and bisexual men, as the barriers are complex. Peter Patlakas has looked at why gay and bisexual men tend not to report sexual assault experiences to the police, an area where very little research has been carried out. “I had previously been in a relationship with a male survivor of sexual abuse. He had never reported his abuse to the police, and I never really understood why he never took such steps,” he tells GayNZ.com Daily News. When he delved into the state of play, he found most of the material available focused on why men, in general, may not report, and failed to account for any differences in barriers gay and bisexual men may face as a collective group. “In particular, there was very little information present that included any form of a New Zealand perspective.” He has found that barriers to reporting sexual assaults for gay and bisexual men fell into four separate themes: personal, social, institution, and abuse-specific. He has identified possible ways to reduce these barriers, including increasing police training and services within the queer community and furthering information on the topic to the public. “My thesis does not give a complete solution to the problem of sexual abuse under-reporting for gay and bisexual men, but allows for the development of a foundation for an understanding of the many barriers these men can face. “All survivors are individuals, and each survivor will have their own personal experience with barriers to reporting. These experiences will tend to involve more than one barrier, and these barriers will often be linked together making the challenges in reporting even more complex.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Sunday, 28th July 2013 - 10:03am