What P Diddy-Bieber history says about male sex abuse

“Starting to act different, huh? You ain’t been calling me and hanging out the way we used to hang out.” It may all turn out to be nothing, but Justin Bieber fans and followers are correct in highlighting this old exchange between the pop star who shot to fame at 15 with rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs. Diddy was arrested on September 16 on multiple charges, including sex trafficking, racketeering, and sexual assault. Bieber is said to have been mentored by Diddy, the music mogul, during the early days of his career when he was still a child.
The problem with sexual abuse, as suspected in the Diddy-Bieber case, is twofold — the impact and the perpetrator-victim dynamic. Researchers Carly D Larsen, Jonathan G Sandberg, James M Harper, and Roy Bean have demonstrated through their study that “there may be more gender similarities than differences in experiences of childhood abuse and relationship quality than previous research has shown”. There is an increased risk of “developing a variety of mental health difficulties in adult life” in survivors of child sex abuse, researchers like Hillberg, Hamilton-Giachristis, and Dixon said. Additionally, as Tom Luster and Stephen A Small suggest, “Adolescents who had been both physically abused and sexually abused exhibited more problems than those who experienced only one type of abuse.”
Academic studies on the impact of sexual abuse aside, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to show that male victims, just like their female counterparts, are often trapped in a similar hierarchical set-up, rendering them equally vulnerable to exploitation. Powerful abusers, too, with very few exceptions, are also male. The perpetrator-victim dynamic in male sex abuse cases, therefore, is to be seen as a grotesque play of patriarchy. The victimised male is closer to a woman in this regard — enough research since Freud has been done around the emasculation impact of unhealthy sexual encounters.
Sexual abuse, it can be safely assumed, impacts men and women almost equally, though the victim’s gender may colour the perception of abuse. Furthermore, psychologists suggest that it is this differential perception that often leads to variegated manifestations of the impact of sexual abuse along gender lines. This gendered response to the experience of sexual abuse is more pronounced when it comes to the parenting experience of survivors. In a 2018 literature review, Joe Wark and Jo-Ann Vis found that male survivors dealt with concerns like “fear of becoming an abuser, and physical and emotional distance from their children”.
Coming back to Justin Bieber, the hypersexualisation and sexually inappropriate behaviour, even from fans and media, the pop singer has been receiving since he was 15 is both appalling and dangerous. He has not been silent about his discomfort either. Unfortunately, the only time he got even minimal attention for these violations was when the perpetrator was a woman. In those cases, too, the discourse bordered more on sensationalism hingeing on the singer’s appeal.
The reactionary backlash against feminism vitiates any discussion on male sex abuse. It is also not a coincidence that most noise around the subject is often in the nature of homophobic generalisations. The reality is that powerful men usually get away with victimising men and women alike. After all, female sex offenders still account for less than 10% of the total number. However, the stigma around male child sex abuse is still so strong that the silence of the victims lets even the not-so-powerful perpetrators get away. Various forms of suppression and denial can be seen all across locker rooms and music chambers despite depressingly high numbers. While no such data exists for India, a 2014 survey estimated that 1.7% of men in the United States faced sexual assault during their lifetime. According to the same survey, 79.3% of male rape victims reported “only male perpetrators”.
Whether Justin Bieber will clear the air remains to be seen; it has shone the spotlight on child safety, the price of celebrity, and the horrible world of men asserting their dominance through sexual aggression.
Nishtha Gautam is an author, academic and journalist.The views expressed are personal