Gay rape is a serious issue in the U.S. military but the Pentagon is apparently in the dark when it comes to the rampant male-on-male sex crimes being committed, according to LGBTQ Nation.
"Rates of military sexual trauma among men who served in the military may be as much as 15 times higher than has been previously reported, largely because of barriers associated with stigma, beliefs in myths about male rape and feelings of helplessness," wrote researchers from The American Psychological Association in a recent report.
When male veterans were surveyed by the Rand Corporation for the Pentagon, it found that there were around 12,000 cases of sexual assault, with nearly a third of the cases involving penetration or rape, according to the Washington Times.
But The American Psychological Association study puts the number of sexual assaults at about 180,000 with nearly 58,000 cases of rape. And those numbers come from a survey of just a small portion of the military – approximately 180 random veterans.
Some feel the test group is too small to accurately say whether the findings are true, but the association claims that many men who are going through sexual abuse while enlisted feel too ashamed to report the abuse, according to WND.
"Men may feel pressure to be 'stoic warriors' and may feel their 'manhood' earned through service has been stripped," wrote the association. "[Researchers] further found that men may experience sexual identity confusion."
