An Assessment of Non-Consensual Sexual Experiences Among Men

Social media movements exposed the routine sexual victimization of women; however, the stories of male sexual assault survivors are still left largely unheard and untold. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that 1 in 6 men experience childhood sexual abuse, and 1 in 21 men have been forced to penetrate someone else during their lifetime. However, little research explores the individual-level characteristics associated with sexual victimization of men. This study assessed the sociodemographic factors of men that report non-consensual sexual experiences. We analyzed data from the 2011-2017 National Survey of Family Growth, a cross-sectional, nationally representative survey. The sample was delimited to those who reported any type of sexual activity and were between the age 18 to 49 years (N=11,294). The sample was stratified into sexually victimized and non-sexually victimized to perform weighted frequencies and Chi-Square tests amongst sociodemographic variables. In this sample, 31.0% of men reported experiencing a non-consensual experience. Men that reported victimization debuted sexually at a significantly younger age (M=16.8 years, SE=0.22) compared to non-victimized men (M=17.2, SE=0.22) (p< .0001). Significant differences in victimization appeared by race/ethnicity (p< .0001), childhood family structure (p< .0001), percent of federal poverty level (p< .0001), level of education (p< .0001), and sexual orientation (p< .0001). Our findings suggest that men experience a high prevalence of non-consensual sexual encounters, belying the cultural silence on male experiences of sexual violence. These estimates of demographic inequities can inform targeted interventions for survivors.