The tone of the coverage of the Reynhard Sinaga case. *Title edited by MNHQ*

[Dogsaresomucheasier]

Just watching tonight’s news. I do not wish to minimise the trauma suffered by the victims of Reynhard Sinaga, but I’m really struggling with the reporting of the case; even from female journalists. It seems so full of empathy and gravitas, when so many female victims go unheard.

If female rape victims were taken seriously then i expect there would be a lot more men vying for the title of Britain's worst rapist. What's the stat, 2% of convictions vs reported rapes i think i saw the other day?

Everyone accepts that no man would ever want to be raped: it's not uncommon for women to be assumed to have consented at the time and changed their minds the next day

Untrue. I think cases involving rape among homosexual men get the least coverage. He was a homosexual predator of straight men, so makes it an unusual case.

Actually, it’s unusual for many reasons, not least because he’s from a very wealthy family in a country where homosexuality is very looked down upon. I think his parents were still trying to get him married off right up until the end.

Chuck only if there was the same amount of indisputable evidence.

Chew

I’m pretty sure if he had been caught raping this many women rather than men, drugging them and it only coming to light when videos and photos were found it would have got the exact same coverage.
What a weird thing to be aggrieved by OP. You would rather the victims were all women instead???

Some of these posts are pushing the idea that male rape doesn’t or rarely happens. It stigmatises it even further.

Utterly appalling.

This thread is a fucking disgrace. OP, you ought to be ashamed of yourself.

I’m shocked this thread is still here.

Worst thread I’ve ever seen on MN - and that’s saying something.

I'm hoping that one thing that comes out of this is that the way rape cases are reported will change. Because every time it gets victim blamey (look at the way the Worboys case was reported) we can say: look, folks, report like the Male Rapes.

And use this as a benchmark. It is absolutely brilliant that he's been caught, and it is devastating for the men involved. Now we move on.

When I saw the news I immediately thought of mumsnet's radical feminists frothing at the mouth.

When I saw the news I immediately thought of mumsnet's radical feminists frothing at the mouth.

Really? I thought of the victims and their families.

TimeAfterTimeAfter

Yeah I get this.

On the one hand the sheer number of victims at the hands of this one man means that it was always going to be reported in terms of hyperbole and something must be done.

On the other, your man the taxi driver is thought to have raped at least a hundred women and he was bloody up for parole.*

This is how I feel. The men this man attacked have faced a horrendous ordeal, and I think it's right and good that the crimes are being treated seriously by the courts and the media. A 30 year minimum tariff is appropriate, and it's good that this man won't be eligible for release until 2050.

But Worbuoys was also found guilty of huge nunbers of rapes and is considered by the police to have attacked 100s of women. Yet he got a minimum tariff of just 8 years and was going to be released last year until a massive outcry by the public stopped it going ahead.

I don't want male victims to be dismissed, or crimes against men to be minimised, I just want crimes against women to be treated with the same seriousness and for female victims to get the same empathy.

If a woman goes back to a man's flat, there is a sizeable chunk of the population who will hold her at least partially responsible for whatever happens to her there. Whereas with this case, I haven't seen a single comment like that online No-one is outing the male victims and calling them whores.

I don't want male victims to be blamed, but the stark difference in public response makes the blaming of female victims all the more obvious and painful to me.

^ bold fail on that 3rd paragraph there

Nrft but this was my first thought also when I saw the news headline.

I suppose John Worboys never got any press coverage then?

What a vile thread.

so this thread DOESN'T surmount to, "What about women? They get raped too"? Hmm.

No it doesn't. It has been very clear from most posters that what they have seen in this is that:
a) it is an incomprehensibly vile thing. Absolutely staggering in its magnitude
b) male victims of rape (not forgetting that most of these didn't even know they were raped) don't come forward even as often as female victims of rape. This is also unspeakably awful
c) the reporting of the case has been different and we would prefer it that this method of reporting be used in future for all rape cases

One of the things that has stood out for me in the reporting, and it is excellent reporting for the most part, is that the victims were generally completely cauliflowered, had lost their friends/groups they were with and wandering around alone. (or targeted for being alone & drunk). NOT one report I've read has given any indication that any of the victims were criticised for being bladdered and alone. RESULT. Now do that every time.

And yes - lots of rapes are filmed. There's a case in Cyprus right now where a rape was filmed, the victim has been medically assessed to have injuries consistent with gang rape. and yet the victim is the one facing jail Yes. different country. But also yes: similar attitudes. See also attitudes when gay men come forward as the victims of rape.

This is a bloody big success for police work, for that victim for pushing back and insisting and for the justice system. Now: let's build on that.

Also: i see there are fundraisers for organisations in Manchester offering help for male victims of rape. I'm not sure if I'm pleased or gobsmacked that there are apparently 4 or 5 of these. Obviously they are needed.

Men are not automatically believed. The victim who initially reported it was ARRESTED. It was only when the video came to light it all changed.

Without video, this man would 100% still be free & raping men.

I think this case does show, that men and women are just as reluctant to go to the police.

I’m not aggravated at all. Just happy that a dangerous predator is behind bars.

Excellent posts Brefugee

Wow OP - really?

Presumably worboys sentence rightly didnt take into account the fact that the police thought he'd committed more rapes rather than him being found guilty of them. In current case the guy had huge amt of recordings he'd made of him raping the victims, so it was a completely different scenario to most reported rapes ie there was recorded evidence of what he did, not the more usual in rape cases of the person raped and alleged rapist each putting forward their own evidence which contradicts each other.

Rape is a horrific crime whoever the victim is and I find you're being aggravated by this prosecution quite odd.

You’re a disgrace OP and typical of man hating Mumsnet. I can’t believe you’re minimising it because it was men. You are and don’t deny it. I dread to think what the Feminism board is saying about it. Thankfully I hid it a long time ago

No one is saying John Worboys never got any press coverage or women’s rape is worse

The point is a straight drunk man is duped to going to a strangers flat drugged then raped - a gay guy wouldn’t get the same sympathy (many people believing he would be up for having sex) and a women would be questioned why was she so drunk and allowing herself to be vulnerable

And then the issue of this drug he isn’t the first to use this drug victims many many women have been drugged before shouldn’t this have raised concerns beforehand

Presumably worboys sentence rightly didnt take into account the fact that the police thought he'd committed more rapes rather than him being found guilty of them

No, but that's exactly the sort of thing the parole board should have been taking into account. And yet they considered him to be suitable for release.

With this rapist, the parole board won't even be considering him until 2050. It's a huge difference.