SurvivorsUK

General information

SurvivorsUK supports men who have experienced sexual abuse at any time in their lives. We provide a national web/sms chat, one to one counselling, telephone counselling, ISVA and groupwork in London. The organisation also supports their families and carers through provision of helpline and counselling services and signposts to other organisations nationally.

SurvivorsUK additionally campaigns and works to raise awareness around the effects of sexual assaults against men and boys and encourages developing dialogue around these issues in the sector and in the wider community.

The majority (approximately 75%) of our clients are recovering from childhood sexual abuse but a growing number of men who have been raped or sexually assaulted as adults are disclosing and coming forward for help. The long term effects of child sexual abuse are well documented and comprise a wide range of psychological, emotional, physical, and social effects. These include anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, drug and alcohol addiction, borderline personality disorder, sleep disorders, eating disorders, schizophrenia, psychosis, grief, post-traumatic reactions, poor self perception, sexual dysfunction, social dysfunction, dysfunction of relationships (including parenting), poor education and employment records, and a range of physical symptoms. The symptoms in an individual may be specific or general, episodic or chronic. The percentage of adults who experienced sexual abuse as children and had long term effects is not known, although in one British study 13% of a sample of such adults reported that they had been permanently damaged.

How often does it happen?

Much more often than people think.
Office for National Statistics (2007) published figures tell us that at any given time 11% of boys under 16 are victims of some form of sexual abuse. At current population, that’s over 700,000 victims. This indicates that there are in excess of 2 million adult male survivors of childhood sexual abuse in the UK. The same reports tell us that in adulthood, 3.5% of men have been sexually assaulted, broken down as 905,000 assaults and 120,000 rapes. That’s over a million sexual assaults against adult men. Over 1,000 men report being raped to the police every year and the police and government admit this is likely to be less than 10% of the real number.