Thank you to everyone who joined our #VAMHNWebinar yesterday! You can find the recording and additional resources on our webiste: www.vamhn.co.uk/webinars.html

✅Key takeaways:
Mental health evidence always relevant
‘Freeze’ response as proof
Mental health unreliable
Mental health as ‘prism’
#VAMHNwebinar #SexualViolence #MentalHealth #Traums #Justice

📘 Legal policy is slowly evolving. Newer guidance acknowledges how trauma affects memory and calls for more supportive courtroom practices (e.g., allowing breaks). But this is not always reflected in legal culture or decision-making.
#SurvivorSupport #LegalReform

💬 Emma highlights the contradiction:
Mental health can be used to explain why survivors react as they do—but can just as easily be weaponised to discredit them. This double standard leads to inconsistent and often unjust outcomes.
#VAMHNWebinar #TraumaInformedJustice

A third case involved a survivor with a complex psychiatric diagnosis. This diagnosis was used to characterise her behaviour as manipulative and distorted, casting doubt on her entire testimony.
Mental health became a tool of discreditation.
#MentalHealthStigma #SexualViolence

In another trial, the survivor’s mental health history and self-doubt were used to suggest she fabricated her experience. Instead of recognising her uncertainty as trauma-related, it was framed as deceit—raising concerns about credibility judgments.
#VictimBlaming #LegalBias

A survivor’s mental health diagnosis was used to justify a "freeze" response during an assault. While this was accepted as evidence of trauma, it reinforced a narrow view of what “real” victimhood looks like—requiring visible passivity to be believed.

🔍This talk focused on:
1. Always relevant
2. ‘Successful’ trauma evidence
3. ‘Abnormal’ psychology
4. Mental health and memory
#VAMHNWebinar #Trauma #Justice #MentalHealth #SexualViolence

📚 Emma’s interdisciplinary PhD drew from:
Feminist texts, legal materials
Interviews with people with lived experience
Narrow understanding of relationship between sexual violence and mental health

✅Key takeaways:
Male survivors face complex, often overlooked mental health challenges
Male rape myths and cultural narratives have real impacts
Race, gender, and culture intersect to shape survivor experiences
Mental health and justice systems must improve responses
#VAMHNwebinar #MaleSurvivor

‘Going undercover’ to seek support
Distrust in systems
Need for culturally competent support
Regaining agency in a masculine frame
Male rape myths in the therapy room
Institutional harm and mistrust
#CulturalCompetence #MinoritisedVoices #TraumaInformed
<2/2>

📚Findings from in-depth IPA interviews with 11 South Asian men in the UK who experienced childhood sexual abuse—Widanaralalage et al. 2025
Key themes:
Family honour and shame
Taboos on sex and mental health
Dismissal and silencing
<1/2>

📚Findings from men with histories of rape/sexual abuse after the age of 13 in the UK—Widanaralalage et al. 2022
Key themes:
Silence & discomfort
Masculinity, stoicism, and invulnerability
Mockery and stigma
Exclusion from services
Institutional victim blaming
Institutional betrayal

Ken’s Research—
📌How do male survivors make sense of sexual victimisation?
📌What shapes disclosure and access to support?
📌How do support services respond to male survivors?
#MaleSurvivor #SexualViolence #Intersectionality

Male rape myths extend rape culture
“Real men can’t be raped”
“Only gay men are raped”
“Men who are raped must have wanted it”
“Male rape isn’t traumatic”
These myths reinforce toxic masculinity, homophobia, and victim-blaming.
#MaleRapeMyths #RapeCulture

⚠️Male victims of sexual violence
1 in 4 men, 1 in 6 boys report lifetime experiences
Psychological impacts include: depression, nightmares, flashbacks, identity crises
Men face serious barriers to recognition, disclosure, and accessing support
Fewer tailored services are available for men

Joining details:

7th May 1pm-2pm (open to all)
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/weaving-st...

8th May 4pm-5pm (teachers only)
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/weaving-st...