Stigma and shame around sexual violence are two of the main reasons why all survivors of sexual violence refrain from reporting sexual violence and from seeking help. [195] As in other countries around the world, survivors of sexual violence in Syria and Lebanon often face stigma and rejection by family and community members. As a result, many survivors said they did not tell their families about the violence, nor did they seek help. Rape: The physically forced or otherwise coerced penetration of any part of the body with a penis, other body part or object. [2] All survivors of rape and other forms of sexual violence should have access to quality health services in line with international standards. [162] This includes women, men and boys, whether heterosexual or gay, bisexual, transgender, or non-binary. They were undoubtedly wealthy, both were wearing expensive looking suits, which they took off to reveal a middle-aged spread around the waist.

At the time we had a number of officers who had the unenviable task of watching a number of pornographic videos, including those featuring children, which had been seized in Soho.This one puts the camp in “Sleepaway Camp.” Of the many copycat slashers to emerge in the 1980s following “Friday the 13th,” Robert Hiltzik’s summer camp killing spree was certainly the weirdest — and the one with the most enduring cult following.

Therefore, the numbers do not reflect the reality. [33] As in the case of women survivors of sexual violence, shame and stigma around this issue, fed by gender stereotypes, prevents male survivors from coming forward. [34] “I lost my dignity,” a paper submitted by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic (Syria COI) to the Human Rights Council, states: Male victims also suffer long-term physical and mental health issues including depression, many times compounded by an inability to admit to others what they experienced, in large part out of fear that perceived loss of masculinity would prevent them from fulfilling traditional gender roles. [35] LGBT: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender; an inclusive term for groups and identities sometimes also grouped as “sexual and gender minorities.” Depending on your age, you may know every frame of the steamy sex scenes between Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon in “The Hunger”; the film played lesbian bars so frequently that it famously inspired Rose Troche to make “Go Fish”— so lesbians would have something else to watch for a change. The research in this report focuses on (i) sexual violence against men and boys and transgender women that occurred in Syria from the beginning of the Syrian conflict (March 2011) until the survivors fled to Lebanon and (ii) the challenges male survivors face in accessing psychosocial and physical health services in Lebanon.

Les Invisibles (2012)

Naila, raped by fellow detainees in a central prison multiple times when she was 15 years old in 2013, went through serious depression, had alcohol problems, and isolated herself from society following her detention. She told Human Rights Watch: I went to Homs city. There I stayed for two months isolated, not talking to anyone, only drinking alcohol, I went into deep depression. I was remembering the very details of what happened to me day and night. Then I decided to stay awake during the night drinking alcohol and sleep during the day because the nightmares were so intense. [156] The acts of sexual violence documented in this report violate international humanitarian and human rights law and may amount to war crimes. Rape and other forms of sexual violence of comparable gravity violate international treaties, some of which Syria has signed or to which it is a party. International Humanitarian Law One of the men had a scar just under his belly button but there were no other distinguishable marks.

Intelligence officials detained Yousef in the same facility as a gay friend of his, who they had also arrested during the same protest. Yousef told Human Rights Watch he heard from his friend while in detention that he was also being raped regularly. [103]Khalil, a 21-year-old gay survivor was captured by ISIS with a group of people, including his boyfriend who was killed for being gay. He said: I was detained by ISIS for three months for being part of protests. I was 15. I was detained with my friends. My boyfriend was thrown from a high building by ISIS. [86] Family Violence and Discrimination Walid, a 26-year-old survivor who registered as a refugee in 2015, described his experience with a humanitarian organization: I was very shy the first time I went there. The person who interviewed me laughed at me. [When I explained to the interviewer that I was sexually assaulted] she asked me, ‘Why didn’t you shout? Why didn’t you defend yourself?’ When I left the interview, I felt it was not worth exposing myself and I felt that I was wrong [at fault for the sexual violence]. Thanks to my friends I was able to build up my self-confidence. [188] The film is widely considered one of the most controversial of all time. When “The Devils” was released in 1971, it faced harsh criticism and censorship due to its Holy Trinity of intense violence, sexuality, and religious themes. While it isn’t explicitly queer, it certainly is explicit. Film critic Judith Crist called it a “grand fiesta for sadists and perverts.” What could be more queer than that? —JD Nur, a 25-year-old gay survivor, was detained in Palestine branch, a detention facility run by the Syrian Military Intelligence, in 2012 for being late for her military service. [80] Nur explained why she did not want to serve in the army: I couldn’t hand myself to the army because we know in Syria what happens to people who are from the LGBT [community] that join the army. Like for example rape and insults. They use you as an object; but even more than [they do to] girls because we are guys and acting like girls. My friend had a personal experience with that. He was raped. [81]

A case worker who works with torture survivors told Human Rights Watch that even men who access psychosocial services can take a very long time to build trust and disclose rape or other sexual abuse they have experienced. [201] The case worker said that one heterosexual male survivor seeking help from their organization asked her, “When a man is raped, he is not a man anymore, right?” [202] Survivors, service providers and staff at NGOs and humanitarian organizations told Human Rights Watch that some survivors experience breaches of confidentiality. Case workers told Human Rights Watch that there are cases where health care providers and staff in hospitals and police breach confidentiality. [191] One case worker explained what happened when she accompanied a male sexual assault survivor to a hospital in Lebanon: Attitudes towards male survivors of sexual violence—some are really bad, even if they [the service providers] are trained. I went to the hospital for a HIV case. Someone working at the reception said, in public [to the person I was accompanying?]: ‘Oh you are one of the people who was subject to sexual violence.’ And there was someone [in the waiting area] who knew the survivor. They must be trained. [192] Human Rights Watch would like to thank the numerous organizations and individuals that contributed to the research that went into this report. We are grateful to the Human Rights Organizations in Lebanon, including Helem, the Lebanese Center for Human Rights and KAFA (Enough) Violence and Exploitation. We also want to thank Manal Moufarrej, who provided simultaneous translation from Arabic to English and English to Arabic during the interviews we conducted with survivors. This report is dedicated to all men and boys, transgender women, and non-binary individuals who took time to share their experiences with us.We start from the premise that everyone has a gender identity. Most people identify as either female or male, though some may identify as both or neither. If someone is labeled “female” at birth but identifies as a man he is a transgender man (or transman). If someone is labeled “male” at birth but identifies as a woman she is a transgender woman (or transwoman). They may or may not take steps to physically alter their bodies, such as undergoing hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or sex reassignment surgery (SRS). The term “ cisgender” (non-transgender) is used for someone who identifies with the same gender, male or female, as the sex they were assigned at birth. In Lebanon, several NGOs, service providers, and humanitarian organizations provide health services to male survivors, including psychosocial support, some medical care and sexual health services. [163] However, survivors who Human Rights Watch interviewed said that existing services are not comprehensive, and staff resources and capacity are too limited to meet the needs of male survivors of sexual violence. Interviewees told Human Rights Watch that survivors of sexual violence face challenges receiving survivor-centered medical and psychological health services in Lebanon. Dispelling myths about male invulnerability will encourage research on and enhance responses to conflict-related sexual violence directed against men and boys. Scholars argue for more gender-inclusive formulations of conflict related sexual violence, and a more nuanced understanding of gendered power dynamics. Chris Dolan, director of Refugee Law Project, an organization that has worked for decades with male survivors in Uganda, argues: [It] requires us to break down conceptual barriers, foremost of which are the assumption that gender power and inequality is unidirectional, the belief that power always has the same biological targets and the related view that (sexual) violence against women and children is the paradigmatic expression of these unidirectional inequalities… Men and boys can therefore be vulnerable, particularly in contexts of conflict designed to destabilize the status quo; their privilege in peacetime can become the source of their vulnerability in conflict. [13] Purpose of Sexual Violence Against Men and Boys International donors, including the European Union, should urgently provide resources for tailored medical, psychological and social support programs in Lebanon for men and boys, trans women, and non-binary survivors of sexual violence, without diverting funding from services for women and girls, which is already very scarce. Without funding, humanitarian organizations and service providers in Lebanon cannot meet the needs of the full range of CRSV survivors. Service providers and humanitarian organizations in Lebanon should provide comprehensive and confidential medical and mental health services to male, transgender, and non-binary survivors of sexual violence, with staff trained to handle their needs effectively and appropriately.