When we talk about sexual abuse or rape, it's often stories from women – like myself - but we seldom - if ever - do we hear about the abuse of men, particularly men of color. The conceptualization of men as perpetrators and women as victims remains the dominant sexual victimization paradigm. But we are slowly seeing a shift. Although the numbers don’t reflect the actual number of victims – on record 3% of men and boys have been the victim of sexual abuse or rape. That’s 1 out of 33 men and boys. We just don’t talk about it.
Keith Mascoll, project founder of The Triggered Project – Shattering The Silence and Nurturing the Healing - discusses his story and the work his project is doing by helping to unpack the sexual trauma AND cast a shadow over the wholeness of black male selfhood. The project allows for a sharing of cultural values in black and brown communities – that often demand men suppress their vulnerabilities and deal with their trauma alone.