London Tube Features 'Real Men Get Raped' Ad Campaign

Survivors UK, an organization working to raise awareness about sexual violence against men, is launching a new campaign around London with the tagline "Real Men Get Raped."

The ads, which feature a punctured rugby ball and the words "real men get raped and talking about it takes real strength," were placed in 140 escalator panels in Tube stations on Feb. 20 during the Six Nations rugby tournament, and will also appear on two billboards in the city and big screens at Waterloo station, reports the Huffington Post.

"We've chosen to use an alpha male sport in our advertising to challenge assumptions about the type of men who get raped," said Michael May, spokesman for Survivors UK. "It's just as likely to be a rugby player as a librarian, a suited city banker as a hooded gang member. And we hope that by challenging our innate assumptions about the identity of male victims, we can make it even fractionally easier for a male rape victim to ask for help."

The National Center for Victims of Crime reports that about three percent of men in the U.S. have been raped at some point in their lives.