Is There a ‘Dispositional Modality’?

This chapter returns to the modal sense of Ravaisson’s notion of inclination. It assesses Stephen Mumford and Rani Lil Anjum’s argument that powers, as inherently a function of tendency or inclination, have a modal status irreducible to more familiar notions of necessity or possibility. The chapter assesses their appeal to voluntary agency in the light of Maine de Biran’s critical response to Hume’s sceptical account of agency. It shows how Mumford and Anjum’s official conception of tendency is restricted by their inheritance of a tradition focusing on the possibility of prevention and interference in a process. Such an approach, I argue, will only ever justify an idea of conditional necessity rather than any modal value wholly irreducible to necessity, although the idea of a ‘dispositional modality’ is a useful corrective to Ravaisson’s resort to a Leibnizian notion of moral necessity when attempting to reflect on tendency and inclination.

What Support? Foucault, Power, and the Construction of Rape

This paper is concerned with the social and cultural constructions of male rape in voluntary agencies, England. Using sociological, cultural, and post-structural theoretical frameworks, mainly the works of Foucault, I demonstrate the ways in which male rape is constructed and reconstructed in such agencies. Social and power relations, social structures, and time and place shape their discourses, cultures, and constructions pertaining to male rape. This means that constructions of male rape are neither fixed, determined, nor unchanging at any time and place, but rather negotiated and fluid. I theorize the data—which was collected through semi-structured interviews and qualitative questionnaires—including male rape counselors, therapists, and voluntary agency caseworkers. The theoretical and conceptual underpinnings that frame and elucidate the data contribute to sociological understandings of male rape.

Can’t Hear or Won’t Hear: Gender, Sexualities and Reporting Male Rape

Drawing on heteronormativity and hegemonic masculinity, this paper seeks to unravel the issue of the underreporting of male rape to the police and to the third sector. Critically examining the issue of male sexual victimisation will provide a fuller understanding of it within the police and third sector context. Underpinned by gender theories and concepts and the framework of heteronormativity, I argue that male victims of rape are reticent to engage with the police and voluntary agency practitioners because of hostile, sexist and homophobic reactions, attitudes, and appraisal, particularly from other men in these agencies within England to police masculinities and sexualities. I draw on primary data of police officers and voluntary agency practitioners (n = 70) to illustrate the ways wherein gender and sexualities norms and beliefs affect and shape their understanding and view of men as victims of rape. The data suggests that, when male rape victims report their rape, they are susceptible to a ‘fag discourse’, whereby the police and voluntary agency practitioners are likely to perpetuate language to suggest that the victims are not ‘real’ men, intensifying their reluctance to report and to engage with the criminal justice system. Thus, the police and voluntary agency practitioners’, particularly male workers, masculinities are strengthened through emasculating male rape victims.

The invisible, the alien and the marginal: Social and cultural constructions of male rape in voluntary agencies

Drawing on a Foucauldian approach and on interview data including male rape counsellors, therapists and voluntary agency caseworkers ( N=70), the author attempts to make sense of the different ways in which male rape is constructed in order to better understand how it is considered and responded to in current English society. The qualitative data herein, which were collected through semi-structured interviews and qualitative questionnaires, are theoretically and conceptually informed. The author argues that male rape is socially and culturally constructed in voluntary agencies in England and shaped by discourse, power and knowledge. For example, discourse on male rape is constructed and reconstructed through social and power relations, and through social interactions between voluntary agency practitioners and male rape victims, accompanied by the attendant social structures and social practices. The implication of these arguments is that the voluntary agency practitioners think about and respond to male rape victims in an inconsistent, unpredictable and variable way, meaning that the practitioners are reliant on different discourses and cultural myths about male rape when providing support and services for male rape victims.

Making the invisible visible: (un)meeting male rape victims’ needs in the third sector

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore whether the voluntary sector meets male rape victims’ needs in England, UK. The author’s contribution represents an attempt to piece together some of the voluntary sector’s responses to male rape victims in England, UK and examine whether they meet male rape victims’ needs. Design/methodology/approach The author draws on data collected from semi-structured interviews and qualitative questionnaires with male rape counsellors, therapists and voluntary agency caseworkers (n=70). Findings The findings reveal nuanced themes that have been overlooked in the existing literature of male rape: first, male rape victims are not given a choice of their voluntary agency practitioner (regarding gender) to serve them; second, there is no specific training on male rape in voluntary agencies; third, the impact of limited resources and funding in the voluntary sector means that many male rape victims’ needs are unmet; and finally, there is ageism and discrimination in some voluntary agencies, whereby male rape victims are prioritised in terms of their age. Research limitations/implications Methodologically, the author’s sample size was not considerably large (n=70), making it difficult to generalise the findings to all voluntary agency practitioners in a British context. Practical implications At a time of scarce funding and scant resources for the third sector, the impact of limited resources and funding in the voluntary sector could mean that male rape victims may not receive proper care and treatment. Budget cuts in the third sector are problematic, in that voluntary agencies may be unable to get access to robust training programs for male rape or to resources that can help shape and develop the ways in which they serve male rape victims. The needs of male rape victims, therefore, are unlikely to be met at the local, regional and national levels. Social implications Some practitioners are misinformed about male rape and do not have the tools to be able to adequately and efficiently handle male rape victims. Not only can their lack of understanding of male rape worsen male rape victims’ trauma through inappropriate ways of handling them, but also the practitioners may implicitly reinforce male rape myths, such as “male rape is solely a homosexual issue” or “men cannot be raped”. Originality/value Whilst previous contributions have recognised the third sector’s responses to female rape victims, little work has been done to identify their treatment of male rape victims. The author attempts to fill some of this lacuna. In particular, The author draws attention to some of the issues and dilemmas that arise when voluntary agencies provide services for male victims of rape. The author’s concern is that many male rape victims’ needs may be neglected or ignored because of the rise in neoliberalism, as there appears to be a financial meltdown in the voluntary sector.