Male Rape - An Invisible Problem

[Hovik]

I've become increasingly aware that there are attitudes of ridicule, joking, and often times sheer malice concerning the topic of rape committed against males. It is often argued that men cannot be raped, and those who are raped are often told to "man up" or are told by their peers that they should consider themselves lucky for "getting laid," essentially. It's a pretty sick double standard that I'd like to help break down.

Men who are raped often later report feelings of emasculation and being trapped by a system that doesn't recognize what's been done to them. While my particular evidence is admittedly anecdotal, I've even heard of police outright refusing to take the reports of male rape seriously. We live in a culture where we've been programmed such that rape is something that happens exclusively to women to the point that news articles will change the word "raped" to "forced to have sex" in many cases.

This is a serious yet invisible issue, and I'd like to open the floor to discussion about the topic. Specifically, what are some of your particular attitudes toward the issue? Why, in your opinions, is the idea that men cannot be raped so entrenched in our culture? Lastly, what can be done to make visible the issue?

Edit: Just to give a sense of perspective on the matter, Googling "rape" yields this definition: "The crime, committed by a man, of forcing another person to have sexual intercourse with him, esp. by the threat or use of violence."