Study finds high rate of male rape among Gulf War veterans

A study published in Psychiatric Times finds that more than one in eight male Gulf War veterans applying for post-traumatic stress disorder disability benefits report being raped. In their article, "Sexual Assault Among Male Veterans," doctors Melissa Polusny and Mauren Murdock detail the Gulf War sexual assaults while putting the rapes in clinical and historical context. A recent survey of more than 3,000 male and female veterans applying for VA disability benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder was used in the study. It revealed that more than 13.3% of male Gulf War veterans requesting benefits say they had been sexually assaulted. Almost 4% of the male combat veterans reported in-service sexual assault, compared with 12.6% of noncombat male veterans. Throughout the military, 4.2% of men report experiencing sexual assault. The article suggests the rate of sexual assault among male veterans seeking VA disability benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder is five to nine times higher than among men in the general population. One possible reason is that male rape is little discussed because of a misconception that adult male sexual assault victims and perpetrators must be gay. And because rape of servicemen may go unrecognized, it may also go untreated. They say that doctors' stereotypes can lead to situations where male veterans "aren't asked and don't tell," suffering in silence. (Sirius OutQ)