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FACTORS PREVENTING NONTRADITIONAL RAPE REPORTmay prevent victims from choosing to labelthemselves as a victim of rape and prevent thesubsequent reporting of the event. Walkin andLong’s research suggests that these mythsnegatively influence perceptions towards malevictims and so males should, similarly tofemales, refrain from self-identifying as rapevictims and from reporting these events to avoidthe stigma that results from these false beliefs.Reporting the EventVery few male victims of rape report thecrime to authorities (Hodge & Canter, 1998). Inone study by Walker et al. (2005a), only 5 out of40 males who identified as victims of rape hadreported the crime, a rate that is notably lowerthan that of female victims. Braun, Schmidt,Gavey, and Fenaughty (2009) interviewedhomosexual and bisexual men who hadexperienced rape and found that male rapevictims have tremendous difficulty convincingauthorities that the sexual event wasnonconsensual. Through these interviews, Braunet al. were additionally able to discern five mainmethods by which males are raped: physicaloverpowering, drugs and alcohol, exploitationof inexperience, power differentials, and socialobligation (for example, meeting an individualwith the presumed purpose of sexual relationsand thereby feeling as though one has no choicebut to proceed with the agreed-upon sexualevent). It is because so few male-victim rapesare reported that researchers must ofteninterview individuals rather than consult legaldatabases, which impedes the research processand has limited the availability of informationon rapes involving male victims and othernontraditional victims.Negative OutcomesWalker et al. (2005b) investigated thelong-term psychological effects on male rapevictims and found the same negative outcomesthat are known to occur in females. Thenegative outcomes include increased incidenceof depression and anxiety disorders, increasedincidence of alcohol and drug misuse, lowerself-worth and self-esteem, social avoidance,self-harming behaviors, and related negativeoutcomes. A second study by Walker et al.(2005a) found that male rape victims who didnot seek support were more likely to attemptsuicide than those who did seek support. Thetragic reality of male rape appears to beunintuitively common and highly devastating.Social PerceptionsHoward (1984a; 1984b) was the first toconsider social perceptions of nontraditionalrape victims and, in fact, did so well before thisfield of study had begun to gain momentum.Howard had participants read depicted strangerrape scenarios in which the victim was eithermale or female, and then had participantscomplete a questionnaire measuring victimblame. This experiment yielded a higher amountof victim blame for male victims than for femalevictims. Furthermore, male victims weregenerally behaviorally blamed − blamed fortheir victimization due to action or inaction(typically, failure to escape or defend themself)− whereas female victims were generallycharacterologically blamed−blamed due to atrait possessed (typically, carelessness). Fifteenyears later, Anderson (1999) reproducedHoward’s research and found that mostparticipants did not distinguish between thesubtypes of blame, behavioral andcharacterological. Research after Anderson’sstudy has typically considered victim blame as asingle combined measure, and has used thissingle measure along with a perceived crimeseverity measure to study anti-victimperceptions.Over the last decade, numerous studieshave used victim blame measures and perceivedseverity measures to investigate anti-victimperceptions specifically towards nontraditionalvictims (Davies & Hudson, 2011; Davies &Rogers, 2006; Davies, Pollard, & Archer, 2001).The work of Davies and her colleagues in theseyears has indicated three main findings: (a)more anti-victim perceptions are directedtowards nontraditional victims than traditionalvictims, (b) heterosexual male participants havemore severe anti-victim perceptions than other