Challenging the Narrative: A Content Analysis of Films Portraying Male Victims of Rape and Sexual Assault

This study examines how films portray adult male victims of sexual assault. Although male sexual victimization has received increasing scholarly attention, little research has systematically explored how it is represented in entertainment media. Using content analysis, this study analyzes 44 English-language fictional films depicting adult male sexual assault (MSA). Films were identified through Internet Movie Database and coded for victim and perpetrator characteristics, assault context, tone, and post-assault consequences. The findings show that portrayals of MSA remain narrow and uneven. Victims were most often depicted as white, heterosexual adult men, while perpetrators were slightly more likely to be male than female. Assaults were commonly portrayed as involving force, occurring in private settings, and framed seriously, although a notable minority were presented through comedy or tonal ambiguity. Post-assault consequences were limited: most films showed little or no psychological aftermath, almost no medical or therapeutic response, and minimal criminal justice involvement. Recovery was almost entirely absent. Across the sample, several recurring themes emerged. Male victimization was frequently acknowledged without being treated as sustained trauma, often trivialized through humor or unstable tone, and shaped by conditional victim legitimacy. Masculinity also functioned as a central interpretive frame, with assaults often depicted as disruptions of masculine identity, authority, or gender expectations. These findings suggest that film makes male sexual victimization visible only under constrained conditions. Rather than fully recognizing male survivors as trauma subjects, many films minimize harm, destabilize sympathy, or frame victimization primarily through masculinity and humiliation. The study contributes to scholarship on media, victimization, and the cultural construction of sexual violence.