Introduction — Feminism, Governmentality and ‘Male’ Rape

Abstract

Rape has long been a feminist issue.^1,2 So apparently uncontentious is this statement that it is often held as a truism. However, one must attend to the assumptions inherent within this construct.³ Just as feminists highlighted gender bias in language, whereby certain gender-neutral terms were imbued with assumptions of masculinity, so it can be noted that the rise of feminism and its proliferation within victimology has imbued certain categories of victimization as intrinsically female — this is especially the case with rape. Hence the need to denote the male in this ‘gender-neutral’ crime.