Abused Boys: The Neglected Victims of Sexual Abuse

by Mic Hunter

A long overdue book by a psychologist who has extensive clinical experience treating male victims of child sexual abuse, it explodes the myth that sexual abuse of male children is rare, or that the consequences are less serious than for girls. Hunter examines the physical and emotional impact of abuse on its victims and the factors affecting revovery. With personal case histories of victims and their families, this is a powerfully written and meticulously researched book that is a landmark in the field of child sexual abuse literature.

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology, Mental Health, Sexuality, Abuse, Research

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Dr. Mic Hunter holds Minnesota licenses as a Psychologist, and Marriage and Family Therapist. He has been sought out by the print and broadcast media for interviews over 150 times including Oprah, CNN, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. He has spoken to mental health professionals and the general public over 300 times in America, Mexico, Mongolia, and England. He has presented at the meetings of the American Association Of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists, the Society for the Scientific Study of Sex, and the American Psychological Association. He has been invited to give nine keynote addresses. He has served as a reviewer for The Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, The Journal of Men's Studies, The Journal of Interpersonal Violence, and Violence Against Women. He is a recipient of the Fay Honey Knopp Memorial Award, given by the National Organization on Male Sexual Victimization, "For recognition of his contributions to the field of male sexual victimization treatment and knowledge." In 2007 the Board of Directors of Male Survivor announced the creation of The Mic Hunter Award For Research Advances. Dr. Hunter, for whom the on-going award was named, became the first recipient. It was given to him for his, “ceaseless pursuit of knowledge about male sexual abuse in all its occurrences, of the eloquent dissemination of new knowledge in this area, and of the stimulation for further study and concern about revealing, treating and preventing male sexual abuse.”

Reviews

[carl · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the first to begin telling the truth about, and admitting that, childhood sexual abuse extended beyond females. I am personally of the opinion that the sexual abuse of males is highly under reported. Primarily, because this culture shames men in its own unique way.

At its best the culture feels that abused females are to be accepted as the victims they were under the abuser. For males it is shameful to be sexually abused by other males for what, I believe, are mostly biological reasons related to power. And while abuse of females is also a power issue our current culture still finds it excusable for them to be powerless. I say that remorsefully, because it means that at its roots the culture has not yet fully accepted women as capable and worthy leaders in their own right.

Secondly, for men, there is never a time when heteronormative sex with a female is not seen as good in this culture. If you deny this you enter the realm of questionable sexual preference and certainly come under scrutiny for your 'manliness' in general.

[Louis Arata · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book about 20 years ago, as research for a novel. A lot of the content has stayed with me, particularly the personal stories. At the time the book was written (1990), it appears that this subject matter was still unfamiliar, but with evidence of abuse within the Catholic Church and with the story of Jerry Sandusky, it looks like our society has started to acknowledge the prevalence of males as victims of abuse. I think the author, Mic Hunter, does a good job addressing the range of emotions victims experience and suggesting ways to begin the healing process. So, even nearly 25 years later, this is still an important work.

[Elissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm only at the end of Chapter 3 - I have to take some "recovery days" after each chapter. I'm in the position of knowing many survivors, both male and female, of child sexual abuse perpetrated by both males and females. While I'm not a survivor myself, my life has been deeply affected by the experience of survivors.

So far the book has shed a lot of light on what I intuited, but felt crazy for intuiting. I keep looking at the anti-porn feminist lens of Andrea Dworkin, et al., and thinking that, wait a minute, women have libidos, we objectify men, we're capable of all the human self-delusion that men are. Violence? Oh, we're capable of that, too, both on an interpersonal and societal level.

We take power-over where we can get it, and it's a long, difficult road to finding our power-within and recovering from the power-over (this even includes "beneficial" power-over that gets us over-involved in healing the wounds of others) habit.

I feel like I'm just starting out on the power--from-within road, but that this book could be a big help. I'll keep updating as I read.

[Wendy Reiersen]

Boys and men can be victims too, but they often have a harder time getting treatment or even being taken seriously. Most of this book applies to anyone who has been victimized.

Although the focus of this book is healing for a specific group of unrecognized victims, we are more alike than different. Emotional abuse is perhaps the most damaging part of any abuse. Perhaps the most hurtful thing for these boys (now men) is that nobody recognized that they were being hurt, or that it mattered, or did anything to stop it. They were taught not to trust what they themselves knew and felt. And it does matter.

[Jackie316 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so fantastic! This book is for everyone--people who have been abused (women, too, can benefit as there is a lot of stuff that applies to both sexes), people who are family or friends of a victim, therapists who treat victims &/or family & friends, abusers, people who want a better understanding of what some others are going through silently, etc.

Mic Hunter covers all aspects of sexual abuse of males--including the writings of the now-grown male victims, the therapy angle, family reactions, sexual abuse cycle, abuser mentality, therapist sessions, etc.

[Steven Morby · Rating 3 out of 5]

A difficult read, this has been one that I have picked up and put back down several times.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was groundbreaking work when I read it in 2001. Thankfully it stirred the social pot and brought male sexual abuse to light and may have uncovered one cause for underachieving boys to boot.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son’s counselor recommended this book after he began disclosing his trauma story to us. If you are needing to read it for someone you love dearly, I am so sorry.

Definitely read Chapters 3-6. Extremely helpful and insightful. These chapters cover:
- Factors Affecting the Impact of Abuse
- Life Areas Affected by Abuse
- Recovery Issues
- Healing the Affected Areas of Your Life

The beginning and end stories of the book have more graphic details from real accounts of sexual abuse…especially incest. It was helpful in ways where I could see how this ends up happening and going unreported so long and all the endless damage and baggage it creates. But also, if I were not compulsive about reading cover-to-cover every book I read, I would have stopped bc it was too much for my brain to process and my empathetic heart to deal with right now. I feel guilty about reading about details like these bc I do not ever venture beyond PG-13 anything. So please be warned/aware that the content is very mature. And heartbreaking. But I do appreciate men speaking out bravely to expose the depths of this problem of male abuse.

But I almost think this book is even more important for sheltered parents like me to read bc you have no plausibility structure for how these things could possibly happen and be so widespread.

[Alex Lochhead · Rating 5 out of 5]

weird to give this a rating but i don't think this book could have articulated its psychological descriptions any better, or done so with any more anger and empathy than it does, which seem to pour from every word he writes, no matter how cold it may seem. perfect job i think.

[Fred Files · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative, with story examples.