Community and service providers often react differently to male victims based on their sexual orientation and the gender of their perpetrators. Rape of males is still taboo, and has a negative connotation among heterosexual and homosexual men. This belief is still held in some parts of the world, but rape of males is now commonly criminalized and has been subject to more discussion than in the past. Historically, rape was thought to be, and defined as, a crime committed solely against females.
A proportion of victims of rape or other sexual violence incidents are male.
