Stereotypes still silencing some young male victims of sexual assault Stereotypes can silence young male victims of sexual assault

Editor’s note: This story is part of a joint look by the Register and WTNH News 8 at teachers charged with sexual assault in Connecticut. WTNH’s report looks at social media: an educational tool for the classroom or a predatory teacher’s best weapon? The News 8 Investigators dig into the debate on Monday at 6. Also coming Monday, in the Register, how colleges and schools train teachers.

NEW HAVEN >> After an alleged sexual encounter with a teacher, a young male student reportedly sent a text message to his friends that read, “we finally had sex.”

No context was needed for that short and to the point group text message, according to the arrest warrant affidavit in the case against Kirvanna Jones, a teacher from the Engineering Science University Magnet School, because the victim had reportedly shared details about his relationship with his teacher for the entire school year.

Jones, 24, will return to court in early May facing charges of second-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a child. She has yet to enter a plea.

According to the affidavit, Jones allegedly had sex with the victim just days before his 16th birthday. The Register does not name victims of alleged sex crimes.

Based on statistics from the National Center for Victims of Crime, perpetrators of sexual crimes against children are most commonly male. The center estimates that only 14 percent of the cases reported by male victims have female offenders.

But, that could be an indication that not all cases are being reported, according to Stephen Braveman, the founder and director of the Intimacy, Sexuality, and Gender Center of Monterey in California, which provides services and help to victims of sexual abuse, with particular attention to male survivors.

Braveman said that stereotypes and gender-typing can keep victims from opening up about their experiences, as “a lot of people believe that boys cannot be molested or raped.”

“Even though we’ve got the word out and made great strides in educating society that abuse is abuse, society still falls prey to these ideas,” Braveman added.

This can keep many cases from being reported or correctly dealt with. Braveman said he worries that young boys who have been subject to sexual crimes by females don’t get the attention and counseling they need. These experiences can have profound effects on their relationships with their peers, future sexual relationships, and family lives, he said.

Jeff Dion, director of the National Crime Victim Bar Association, said that statistics show that young girls are more likely to be victims of sexual crimes than young boys across the board, and particularly inside the home. But, when it comes to trusted adults outside of the home, Dion believes that the results may be more evenly split.

Based on records of 58 cases collected by the New Haven Register in which teachers were arrested and charged with sexual crimes against students, Jones is the 17th female teacher since 2005 to be facing charges involving sexual misconduct with students. All 17 female teachers were charged with crimes against alleged male victims.

The collected data also revealed that three male teachers allegedly had sexual encounters with male students in Connecticut since 2005.

According to the warrant affidavit in the case against Jones, she and the student had what he described as a “boyfriend and girlfriend” relationship for several months. The pair would communicate by text and phone call outside of school, and some text messages reportedly included explicit photographs.

Diane Polan, the attorney representing Jones in this case, said “It is important to remember that many of these allegations are false.”

Polan has represented other teachers charged with these types of offenses, including special education teacher Robert Schmitt, who was ultimately acquitted of the charges.

“For a teacher, the accusation itself destroys their career, even if they are ultimately exonerated,” Polan added.

And attention of these types of allegations can also have profound effects on victims. .

Dion said positive attention to a male victim who has had sexual encounters with a teacher on social media or in conversation can minimize what the male victim actually experienced. He said often times young boys see images or comments on social media that indicate a male victim should be proud for having sexual relations with a teacher.

“I think it’s not so much whether or not the victim is a boy or a girl, but if boys are abused by female teachers, they are treated differently,” Dion said.

When representing victims in cases involving sexual crimes, Dion said lawyers will often have to call in expert witnesses who can speak directly to how male victims may behave in cases like this. Unlike female victims before a jury, young boys may not cry or act a way that is expected for victims to act.

Further, due to “the boy code,” many of the cases against young boys may not even be brought to light in the first place, according to the National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence completed by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2012.

The report notes that male social norms stigmatize seeking help, which means young boys may not come forward if victimized by a female teacher or coach, and therefore, authorities are less likely to know about these cases.

“These issues thrive on silence,” said Casey Corcoran, program director of the Child and Youth Program at Futures Without Violence.

“A young man can be just as impacted by a sexual assault as a young woman,” Corcoran added. “The fact that he’s a young man doesn’t make it any less harmful.”

Futures Without Violence works to implement prevention strategies in policy and practice to keep youth from experiencing any forms of violence.

Corcoran said Futures Without Violence also tries to promote ideas of healthful masculinity among youth. He said society in general has issues with victim blaming with sexual cases, where it is almost suggested that the victim asked for a sexual encounter in the way they dressed or acted. And, this often paints a picture that young boys may have experienced a sexual encounter that they actually wanted.

“We need to have an open and honest conversation with young people about sexual assault, their consent ... and gender norms,” Corcoran said.

In addition to education, Braveman advocates for more support groups for victims and a more strict enforcement of laws. Female perpetrators should be treated the same as males, he said. But, ultimately, courts, law enforcement, parents, teachers, and school-age children need to all shift their view of these types of cases.

In many ways, societal ideas about sexual victimization are still in the past, Braveman added.

“As a society, we really beat the drums (in the 1960s) that it’s not the victim’s fault if she was molested,” he said. “Back then it was just she.”