Men's Unwanted Sexual Experiences: Exploring men's barriers to support (MUSE)

MUSE is a collaborative research project with the Male Survivors Partners, Breaking the Silence, ManKindUK and artist Jon Ralphs. The project uses interviews to explore the barriers that men have faced when trying to seek support for their unwanted sexual experiences and art workshops - facilitated Jon Ralphs - to visually explore the relationship between masculinity and men's unwanted sexual experiences.

Men’s unwanted sexual experiences (MUSE) – or sexual violence and harassment towards men – remains an under explored topic of research in the UK, where men rarely seek formal or informal support for their experiences. A recent survey by the Male Survivors Partnership (MSP) found that 42 per cent of men have experienced at least one form of unwanted sexual contact, while ManKindUK (a male survivors support service) has reported a 95 per cent increase in referrals since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Despite the prevalence of unwanted sexual experiences for men, it would appear that social and cultural barriers remain, impacted men’s help-seeking behaviours and ways of understanding their experiences.

Led by Dr Carl Bonner-Thompson (School of Applied Sciences) and Dr Kirsty McGregor (School of Humanities and Social Science) the MUSE project aimed to explore the barriers that men face in seeking support for their unwanted sexual experiences and the relationships these experiences have with masculinity and vulnerability.

The research employed qualitative approaches, conducting online interviews and creative workshops with male survivors in collaboration with visual practitioner Jon Ralphs, with data collections in South East England and London and North East England.

This collaborative project was initially funded by Healthy Futures, Male Survivors Partnership, and The Centre for Transforming Sexuality and Gender (CTSG) at the University of Brighton was then granted funding by the UKRI to hold a series of participatory workshops involving charity partners – including ManKindUK, Breaking the Silence, and MSP – and participants.

> Men experienced a range of unwanted sexual experiences including child sexual abuse; sexual harassment; sexual assault and rape.
> Over two thirds (65%) of the men who participated in this study had more than one unwanted sexual experience, with sexual assault and sexual harassment most reported.
> The majority (68.5%) of perpetrators had a pre-existing relationship with the participant.
> Often, men would seek formal support for the impacts of unwanted sexual experiences (e.g., depression, anxiety or drug and alcohol misuse) without formally disclosing.
> Almost half (48 per cent) of participants’ disclosures were to their friends, showing men have a willingness to speak about their experiences with other men.
> There are multiple barriers for men accessing timely and appropriate support. These varied depending on how old they were when the incident happened; their relationship(s) to the perpetrator; their perception of what constitutes unwanted sexualexperiences; and how other people responded to their disclosures.
> These barriers are shaped by societal understandings of masculinities, gender and sexual violence and institutional practices, policies and procedures.
> Barriers to timely and appropriate to support for men are complicated, and multiple can emerge at the same time. Often societal and institutional barriers are present, where certain geographic and institutional cultures combine with failure in institutional policies and/or practices.
> Participants often did not recognise their experience(s) were a form of sexual violence for long periods of time, if at all, or did not think that they required any form of support.
> Men's participation in the project was inspired by a willingness to care for and support
other men with similar experiences.
> Participants identified multiple ideal types of support and ways to access and engage with it.