title: Female sexual assault: the impact on the male significant other.
abstract: In this existential-phenomenological investigation five men were interviewed about their experience of being a male significant other (MSO) of a female sexual assault victim. The purpose of the study was to understand the MSO's meaning of the rape and the emotional impact it had on him. The thematic structure of a man's response to having a female significant other sexually assaulted depicts an impact on his emotional life in four significant areas: (1) his immediate painful thoughts and feelings, (2) his relationship with the victim, (3) his world view on male attitudes, and (4) the long-term effects of the trauma. It is an experience that has left him feeling angry, helpless, and guilty, prompted him to self-inspection, and thus changed him forever.
authors.affiliation: West Virginia University, School of Nursing-Charleston Division, Charleston, West Virginia 25304-1299, USA. msmith@hsc.wvu.edu
authors.forename: Marilyn E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D011902:Rape / Q000523:psychology*; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*; D014903:West Virginia