The Forensic Nurse

* State only pays for abortions when necessary to protect the woman’s life.

Source: Guttmacher Institute 2009

Source: http://www.ncsl.org/programs/health/aborlaws.htm

Trying to

Often SANE programs go unnoticed and unpraised for their efforts. Most people would tell you that its not really polite conversation to talk about the needs for such programs.  

But the Chicago Tribune recently published an article about a SANE program in cook county. There is a phenominal qoute in the article by Tom Fleming Jr of the Park Forest Police department:

“We know that a SANE nurse who is trained in evidence collection has done the correct work for us,” he said. “Our goal is to not have a trial. Our goal is to get a confession from that offender. And we’re best equipped to do that with medical evidence. If we can do that, if we can get an offender to take a plea and not go to trial, then we’ve served that victim right at that very moment.”

Read the Full Article here:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-sex-assault-treatment-sw-zon.ar0apr08,0,7944054.story

I was recently asked about a case in which an adult male was raped and during the sexual assault had an ejaculation. Often the topic of male rape is forgotten when we talk about sexual assaults.

While rarely reported, male rapes do actually occur.  Perhaps it is male pride or ego, but reporting statistics for survivors of male sexual assault are even lower than that of women. One FBI statistic estimated that close to 3% of adult males will be raped at some point in their lives.

As for why the reporting statistics are so low, it may be due to the fact that this type of event may be even more shameful and traumatic to men than it is to women. Society in general tells men that in order to be respected and seen as desirable that they must be seen as strong, tough, and powerful.

All the experts agree that rape is almost never about the sex. Its about power and control. Excercising your will over someone elses. Essentially proving that you are the one in control. That you are stronger than the other person.

Bringing this type of shame to a man can be exceptionally devastating to their emotional self concienience. By not being able to fend off an attackers the victim may view himself as weak, undesireable, or even homosexual. 

These feelings of homosexuality can be even more confusing if the victim experiences an erection or even ejaculates. Both of these situations are very common and are often used as tools of shame by an attacker to make the victim think that they wanted or enjoyed being raped. In reality these types of reactions are more physiological than anything.

Often people believe that an erection equals sexual arousal. There are many reasons why a man may experience an erection during a sexual assault. The simple friction of touching the millions of tiny nerve endings on the penis could cause an erection, even if the touch was unwanted or unpleasant.

Being penetrated anally can also cause an involuntary erection. The application of pressure on to the prostate gland from digital, penile, or foreign object insertion to the anus can often cause an erection. Any proctologist will tell you that this type of reaction is very typical while performing a Digital Rectal Exam for prostate screening.  

Bringing the victim to the point of ejaculation is also quite common. Rapists will often make every effort possible to ensure that the victim does ejaculate to add the the feelings of guilt, shame, and homosexuality. This can add another layer of power, and dominance, and even increased pleasure for the rapist for having such control over the other person. Remember in most cases its about power not the actual sex.