Comparison of Patterns of Sexual Assault against Male Victims during and After Terrorism in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Introduction: After the defeat of terrorism in May 2009, we observed a change in social, cultural, political and crime patterns. Though a lot of studies have been done on sexual assault of female victims, no in-depth study has been done or male victims. This study was conducted to compare the nature of injuries and characteristics of male victims of sexual assaults which 0 during a time of terrorism with those after terrorism ceased. Methods: A cross-sectional study on male victims of sexual assaults was conducted at selected tertiary care hospitals. All Medico-legal examination forms (MLEFs) of 6 consented forensic medical practitioners covering a 10 year (period from May-2004 to May-2014 were screened. Results There were 31,210 MLEF's during this 10 year period, .with 102 cases (0.3%) being male victims of sexual assault, Ages of the victims ranged from 3-36 years, with 68% being 10-19 years of age. Ninety four percent (94%) had no injuries. Fresh anal tears were found in four and old scars in two. Thirty five percent (35%) were during terrorism and 65% after terrorism ceased. The place of living and the age of victims showed no significant difference (p>0.05). The circumstances such as time, place, perpetrator and number of incidents were significantly different (p<0.05). The nature of the sexual act's showed no significant difference (p>0.05) but there was a difference in the rate of referrals to a psychiatrist difference (p<0.05). Conclusions: During the time of terrorism, sexual assaults on males occurred during daytime, outside home, by non-relatives and multiple times. After terrorism ceased, these sexual assaults occurred during night, at home, by relatives and a single episode. There was no significant difference in the nature of sexual acts during the 2 periods. The significant increase in male sexual assaults at home by relatives on teenage boys after terrorism ceased needs to be further investigated in order to develop evidence based interventions.