News from Kemi Badenoch (past staff): Male rape charity handed £78,000 thanks to ground-breaking report

Male rape charity Survivors UK is set to receive £78,000 from the Mayor of London thanks to a ground-breaking report from Conservative London Assembly member Kemi Badenoch.

Kemi’s Silent Suffering report, released in November, suggested 92,000 rapes and sexual assaults on men went unreported to the Metropolitan Police between 2010 and 2014.

As a result of her research and subsequent lobbying, the Mayor of London has agreed to grant Survivors UK an extra £78,000 over the next three years to encourage more victims to come forward.

Kemi Badenoch, Conservative London Assembly member, said:

I am so pleased that the Mayor has recognised what an important issue this is within our capital. Male rape is a rarely mentioned taboo – a fact reflected in the stark figures exposed in my Silent Suffering report. No victim of rape or sexual assault should feel they have nowhere to turn and be made to suffer in silence. This additional revenue will help the charity reach out and encourage men to come forward.

Keith Best, chief executive of male rape charity Survivors UK, said:

We’re extremely grateful that this money is being made available thanks to Kemi’s hard work highlighting the issue. It is long overdue that the studies surrounding male rape are given due recognition. Although we deal with adult male survivors, over half have been abused as children and fewer than half are gay. This is a problem for the whole community. Too many survivors are bottling up feelings of isolation, betrayal, emasculation, guilt and shame. This has a knock-on effect on their and their families’ lives, which has a massive impact on wider society. This additional income is going to enable us to reach out to more people and raise awareness among victims that they have somewhere to turn.