Condescension, smug dismissals and being talked down to are common experiences for male survivors – even within allegedly “woke” sexual violence advocacy.
As a trained victim advocate with thousands of hours of direct experience, I’ve even seen it from former colleagues and fellow activists. I’ve lived it. A favored tactic is to smugly trivialize male survivors’ lived experiences, condescendingly allege we simply don’t understand our own traumas, and then accuse us of being “triggered” in order to gaslight us into silence.
PS: I am NOT saying these experiences are unique to male survivors. I have never claimed otherwise. I am simply highlighting a particular form of gaslighting that is still being actively denied.
