TELL Magazine

Sweden To Open Clinic For Male Rape Victims

Swedish authority has concluded plans to open Sweden’s first emergency clinic for male rape victims hospital in Stockholm, the capital.

The South General hospital already has a walk-in centre which provides urgent care for women who have been raped or sexually assaulted.

But it announced on Wednesday that it would be admitting men and boys from October.

Some 370 cases of sexual assault on men or boys were reported in Sweden last year. Lotti Helstrom,one of the doctors in charge of the programme said, “The general perception is that men cannot be raped.”

She said the subject of male rape is still “extremely taboo” but that it was much more common than most people realised.

Helstrom said that it is important for men to have equal access to emergency care.

The hospital already runs a 24-hour emergency service for female rape victims, providing access to doctors, midwives, nurses, psychologists and social workers.

Inger Bjorklund spokesperson for the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education RFSU, who commended the idea, said that a clinic focused on men would “contribute to the awareness of experiences of sexual abuse among men.”