Fiction about male survivors of sexual abuse
August 17, 2020 1:43 PM   Subscribe

Please recommend fiction about boys and men who have been sexually abused. Short stories preferred, novels OK too.

A student acquaintance wants to explore this topic through fictional representations thereof, so right now the parameters are quite broad. I know that he is interested in the particular stigmas that some male survivors may face (e.g., the stereotype that one is "less of a man"); so stories that touch on such attitudes would be especially welcome.
posted by Beardman to Media & Arts (25 answers total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
Dick [Nightwing] Grayson (yes, the original Robin of Batman and Robin fame) was sexually assaulted. See the Catalina Flores part of the Tarantula entry. As this summary points out, it wasn't the first time something similar happened to Dick.
posted by sardonyx at 1:56 PM on August 17, 2020


Sleepers, by Lorenzo Carcaterra. Novel, made into a movie. Marketed as a true story (note: spoilers for the book in this link), but commonly believed to be at least somewhat fictionalized. The discussion of to what extent the it reflects the author's experiences - and some of the reactions as to why he would or would not have published it if it did - might further appeal to someone who is interested in survivor stigma.
posted by true at 2:00 PM on August 17, 2020


Boy Toy, by Barry Lyga, is about the high school life of a boy whose middle school teacher (female) is in jail for molesting him.
posted by gideonfrog at 2:11 PM on August 17, 2020 [2 favorites]


Saul Indian Horse, the male protagonist of Richard Wagamese’s novel Indian Horse, is fictional, but he is based on the 100,000+ Indigenous children who suffered emotional, physical and sexual abuse in Canada’s residential schools.

It is an excellent, important book that examines unflinchingly the traumatic after effects of abuse entwined with expectations around race and masculinity; Saul becomes a hockey player after leaving residential school, and the world of hockey is full of toxic masculinity.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 2:19 PM on August 17, 2020


Any of Andrew Vachss' works in the Burke series -- Flood, Strega, and Hard Candy all come to mind.
posted by holborne at 2:26 PM on August 17, 2020 [2 favorites]


Also Tampa, by Alisa Nutting.
posted by holborne at 2:30 PM on August 17, 2020 [1 favorite]


Dennis Lehane's Mystic River (and the 2003 Clint Eastwood-directed film adaptation).
posted by demonic winged headgear at 2:41 PM on August 17, 2020


Kite Runner
posted by bunderful at 2:46 PM on August 17, 2020 [1 favorite]


A Little Life
posted by hollyholly at 2:50 PM on August 17, 2020 [2 favorites]


Mary Doria Russell's novel "The Sparrow"--a bit of a unique suggestion because it's kind of classically in the sci fi genre (it's a first contact story) but it's mostly a character study that involves a handful of very different people who are thrust into close quarters and very strange, wonderful, and terrible situations for a very long time. I don't think it's spoiling the story to say that the sexual abuse of the main male character is a big deal in the plot development and its resolution, but... it's a very big deal in the story. It very much fits in with the stigmas, stereotypes, and attitudes you're looking for (especially if your interest is also in the stigmas, stereotypes, and attitudes that come from the victims themselves). Not to mention, Russell's prose is legendarily good.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 3:08 PM on August 17, 2020 [3 favorites]


Iain Banks' book "The Wasp Factory" is about a psychopathic young man who tortures animals, and who was sexually mutilated by an attacking dog. The eventual reveal is a revelation of abuse, but it doesn't actually depict the act of abuse, only that the whole book is substantially the aftermath. This book is a good book, but at times a hard read, and the hits keep coming.
posted by Sunburnt at 3:23 PM on August 17, 2020 [1 favorite]


Sarah Monette's Doctrine of Labyrinths series.
posted by solitary dancer at 3:36 PM on August 17, 2020


Ender's Game is about a boy who is sexually assaulted in a shower and how he goes on to justify killing his attackers and eventually exterminating all the "buggers."

Many other works by Orson Scott Card explore similar themes. "Unaccompanied Sonata" is about a boy whose innocence and purity are violated by a stranger, and how the boy is punished by removing his fingers so he cannot "play his instrument."
posted by Phssthpok at 3:47 PM on August 17, 2020


It's a comic book series, but Y: The Last Man is a really interesting exploration of men and masculinity and the protagonist was sexually abused as a child.
posted by zeusianfog at 4:35 PM on August 17, 2020


CW...well, there's a horrifying short story called Captain China in the anthology Alien Sex. It's not "sci-fi". And maybe it's not about survivors.
In Bruce McAllister's present-day 'Captain China', a young boy forced into prostitution faces a bleak reality that has timely and disturbing overtones.
posted by j_curiouser at 5:49 PM on August 17, 2020 [1 favorite]


Mysterious Skin. One of the most beautiful and haunting novels I’ve ever read.
posted by Automocar at 7:23 PM on August 17, 2020 [1 favorite]


If genre doesn't matter, you'll find plenty of examples in queer romantic/erotic fiction. The Captive Prince trilogy by C.S. Pacat and Docile by K.M. Szpara are two popular SFF titles with male protagonists who are sexually enslaved.

While Docile's project is to deconstruct romanticized portrayals of abuse in erotic fiction, I actually found the melodramatic Captive Prince trilogy a more sensitive portrayal of sexual abuse. It does some super interesting stuff exploring gender roles and power.

For something gentler, A Gentleman Never Keeps Score by Cat Sebastian is a sweet and sensitive romance featuring a male survivor.
posted by toastedcheese at 7:39 PM on August 17, 2020


Edward St. Aubyn’s Patrick Melrose novels are a (loosely autobiographical) quintet of short books about an upper-class English boy who suffers abuse at the hands of his father. They are horrifying, un-put-downable, and funnier than 90% of anything else I’ve ever read. There was a Showtime adaptation a few years ago that got good reviews, but I couldn’t bring myself to revisit the story.
posted by minervous at 8:36 PM on August 17, 2020 [2 favorites]


Edinburgh, by Alexander Chee.
posted by kylej at 8:59 PM on August 17, 2020 [1 favorite]


The Music of What Happens

One of the main characters is dealing with the aftermath of a sexual assault, not sexual abuse. But it still gives a male perspective of the aftermath of a negative sexual encounter.
posted by DEiBnL13 at 9:09 PM on August 17, 2020


I don't have it in front of me, but Embrace by Marc Behr contains some of this theme.
posted by Rumple at 10:04 PM on August 17, 2020


The Confusions of Young Törless by Robert Musil is about sexual abuse in an Austro-Hungarian boarding school for boys at the turn of the century, exploring the psychologial preconditions for the rise of fascism. It's from the perspective of one of the perpetrators, rather than the victim. There's also a film by Volker Schlöndorff.
posted by sohalt at 11:56 PM on August 17, 2020


Seconding Andrew Vachss' Burke series of books. The antihero Burke was abused throughout his childhood. As a result, he tends to focus his ire and efforts on child abusers and pedophiles. They aren't easy reads, though they are relatively (thankfully?) short. I've read a few and imagine they are highly triggering for some readers.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:53 AM on August 18, 2020


I came in to also recommend Boy Toy by Barry Lyga. It's very good, and explores the complexity of the abuse the character experienced.
posted by jb at 8:59 AM on August 18, 2020


the movie L.I.E.
posted by brujita at 9:19 AM on August 18, 2020


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