| dc.description.abstract | Sexual violence is a prevalent problem in Norway. However, male sexual assault victims are rarely emphasisied in official action plans and service policies. While female victimization is more common than male, the observed gender discrepancy may be artificially high because men more rarely disclose their victimization. Previous research on male sexual victimization is limited; the bulk of research comes from biomedical disciplines. Few studies are based on a sociological perspective, in particular from the Nordic context. In this thesis, I will investigate sexual victimization experiences in a sample of Norwegian men and their process of disclosure. I draw on sociological theories of grooming in the victimization process. Grooming is defined as a process by which a person prepares a child, significant adults, and the environment for the abuse of this child. I also use theories of stigma, in particular in the tradition after Erving Goffman, as well as theories and research on rape myths and masculinity. I have conducted nine individual interviews with male victims of sexual assault, each lasting between one to two and a half hours. The informants were recruited by word-of-mouth from an aquaitance of mine and from support organizations for victims of sexual violence. The results are presented in three empirical chapters: First, I outline the typical victimization process, and show how grooming was a key element. Second, I describe years of secrecy, selfblame, shame and stigma among the participants. Third, I outline key elements in the process of disclosure. These are the key findings: • Consummated rapes typically characterized the victimization, and perpetrators were in a position of trust and authority. Grooming of both the victim and their environment was consistently part of the victimization process. Most victims never tried to disclose during the period they were assaulted. • The victims had problems in understanding what had happened to them, still they developed feelings of self-blame and guilt. Typically, they tried to suppress or trivialize the assaults as a way to move on with their lives. For some, this created extensive disclosure delays, because the memories got so distorted that they had a hard time making sense of them once they were confrontated by their past years later. • When they gradually began to remember and recognize what had happened, they faced societal barriers linked to stereotypes of the typical sexual assault victim, masculinty ideals and institutional blocking. All informants had eventually disclosed their victimization, typically to their partners. When asked directly by the police, three informants disclosed to them. It took between 7 and 61 years before they disclosed. • For some informants this was due to physical or mental health symptoms, resulting in a perceived necessity to open up and search support. However, for some judicial aspects were important, as they disclosed when an official investigation of their perpetrator was initiated. • More generally, narrative resources and role models were also important, meaning that when someone the informants could recognize themselves in, publicly disclosed their victimization it showed the informants that they were not alone, that what they had experienced indeed was a sexual assault. The conclusion is that disclosure barriers are created before the onset of assault through the process of grooming. Once the assault(s) has happened, the informants are confused, feels shame and uncertainty and try to forget. After years of suppressing and trivializing, their social and health problems grow bigger and suppression og trivializing is not working for them. Therefore, they want to find a way to disclose. The facilitators varies, but all have in common that the informants use them to disclose to someone they trust. Disclosing to someone they trust is not necessarily negative if it is followed by disclosing to the authorities or public service providers. However, if the disclosure does not go beyond those closest, the service provisions for male victims of sexual assault will not be developed. | eng |