I think many sexual assaults of varying kind go underreported due to victim-blaming and people being unable to speak about due to PTSD avoidance symptoms.
That's partly why a lot of male sexual assault/abuse victims don't report the crime; about 1 in 4 eventually commit suicide. If there's no physical proof of injury, then in the eyes of the law the victim is lying... and women lack the anatomical ability to commit sexual violence.
I understand where the logic comes from, and like
@cactus_jack said people really aren't that bright to begin with. But on the other hand, it doesn't help us when our own gender chimes in with "you're not a real man if you let a woman get away with beating the crap out of you".
On a far more disheartening note, many states have years or even decades of backlog for processing rape kits. Oftentimes, the female victims are billed to having those kits done, despite the evidence never making it to court. This means that both sides are literally getting screwed.
So between the machismo and the lack of documentable proof of harm, nobody wins. At first, many male survivors felt they had a chance to stand with the #metoo movement. Then we learned that the movement had been politically co-opted in a divisive manner... and we're now even more unwilling to come forward.
Politics and religion are emotionally-charged topics, once you press that button on someone it becomes extremely challenging to reason with them.
Like many great ideas, the #metoo movement became an "us versus them" movement.
Without a middle ground, Weinstein and Woody Allen win.
I've had to step back a bit and consider things from the bigger picture, it turns out that quietly discreet observation prevents about 90% of the problems in life. And it's been tough to put aside enough of the constant triggering to work with logic objectively from both sides.
But out of respect to the basic idea, it's necessary in order to find the opportunities to learn and grow from.
Scope and relevance -- if it doesn't pay my rent, and if the folks involved aren't signing my paychecks, then it's not something I need to invest my time with.
Political warfare isn't going to process those decades of evidence. It's not going to stop abuse and assault, regardless of who runs what. I can't change the world on my own, although I wish I could. And this movement will do just fine without me.
It's not a male thing.
It's respect.
