Take Back the Night saw hundreds of women come together at Ohio University and march against sexual assault. Men attended the rally and stood by as allies, but one new organization will allow male survivors of sexual assault to have a voice.
Michael Outrich, a sexual assault survivor, has been speaking out about his experiences while trying to organize OU’s first support group for males of sexual assault.
One in six boys will be sexually abused before they turn 16, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, and about one in five males will be sexually abused before they are 18, according to the FBI.
Outrich’s organization is called Sexually Abused Guys Anonymous, or SAGA. He has presented the idea to multiple centers on campus, but is now waiting for members to join.
“Men have to step forward at this point,” Outrich said. “I think it’s very healing to be in a group with other people that have shared the same horrible things as you.”
Outrich was assaulted and raped by three older men at a sleepover party when he was 8. For many years he said he didn’t feel comfortable with people. Family members called him a liar and said he only wanted attention.
“Some of my ‘friends,’ who really aren’t friends, they said that I deserved it and that I was gay because of it,” Outrich said. “Unfortunately, some people here in college even act that way too, cause, you know, I’m a man, I should have been able to prevent it, but I was 8 years old.”
Brenda Strickland, program coordinator for the Survivor Advocacy Program, said in the entire year she’s worked at OU, the men who come to her only ask questions. She has not had one male say he is a survivor of sexual assault or rape.
“I feel that we probably do have a lot of male survivors on campus. There’s still a lot of stigmatism whether it’s male or female survivors of sexual assault or rape,” Strickland said. “I feel that a lot of times males feel like they’re going to be ostracized or harassed. They’re afraid they’ll have different labels put on them.”
Audrey Imes, president of Voices for Planned Parenthood, said the biggest obstacle for male survivors is that a lot of survivor organizations are geared toward women.
“For so many female survivors those support groups help with those very big issues in so many ways,” said Imes. “I think having something like that for men would be so helpful.”
je726810@ohiou.edu
