Interesting article on rape....

[Blackduck]

here

Did they pursue it so vigourously because he was a man or because of his job?

I found this bit sad, but also perhaps a bit revealing:

I'm still struggling to come to terms with how, despite my decades of professional experience, I made the choices that led to me being raped.

it is v typical for someone who has been sexually assaulted or raped to take ownership of events this way, and it is far more complicated than a hangover from a victim blaming culture; in my case I think I felt if it were my resposibility there were things I could have done differently, which was painful to think but bizarrely empowering if that makes sense

Many many years later I know this is not the case at all, my actions would have led to no consequences if I had not been with someone prepared to assault a stranger

Anyway

this sort of reasoning is v common I think, but a bit disturbing coming from someone, who whilst raped themselves, continues to work with victims of sexual violence

I agree. That automatic assumption that it was his, the victim's fault struck me too.
No, it was the rapist's fault.

I feel sorry for the guy, but it also says a lot to me about the prevailing attitude within the police (and indeed, the general public).

And of course, many female victims also blame themselves.

IT WAS THE RAPIST'S FAULT!

poor bloke.

men really need to sort out male-on-male rape.

the MRAs should get onto it instead of pissing around blaming women and feminists for everything.

I'm sorry that this has happened to him.

I am astounded that it took getting raped himself to get higher than the first rung on the empathy ladder after 15 years of working with sexual crime victims.

Quite, seth.

Another couple of things that struck me on reading the article:

1. He was very drunk when it happened, but there was no doubt in his mind he was raped, that he did NOT give consent.

Think of recent trials where the woman was very drunk, but despite the change in the law regarding ability to give consent, judge and jury still decided it wasn't rape because the woman couldn't remember if she gave consent or not.

1. He refused to go along with the police who wanted to catch and prosecute his rapist.

But there was no question he was "crying rape", despite his desire not to follow through with a prosecution. He was entirely believed in that respect.

I wonder how the experiences of other male rape victims compare, and those of female police officers.

It's hard to imagine a woman who had been drinking all day, who stayed in a pub when all her friends had left, who went back to the home of a stranger whose name she didn't know, being treated the same way - if not by the police, certainly by the press.
I also wonder how a man, not in the police and unknown to the investigating officers, reporting the same, would be treated?

Yeah the part where he decided to stay at the pub without his mates, none of my female friends would ever do that. We have obviously been taught differently.

I read this and I also thought that it was very interesting that his colleagues were so gung ho to 'sort this out' by achieving a prosecution. Seemed like the 'looking after your own' mentality was a very strong factor here - to the extnt that they didn't actually listen to their own at all. I suspect however that it won't only be the writers attitude to his work that has been changed by these events.