Male Statutory Rape Victims vs Child Support

I am an advocate for all victims of sexual assault and rape, I believe it is important for ALL victims to get the justice they deserve. It is important to understand that I am NOT belittling other victims, instead this is information purely on male victims but specifically male statutory rape victims.

Also a trigger warning to all but especially to victims; most if not all the information on here is difficult to read and process.

In this blog I will be covering how statutory rape victims are forced to pay child support to their predator.

Even after the child is raped, traumatized, and scarred for life, the female predator and the states insist that this child is capable of supporting a child even if it's one they didn't ask for.

I chose this topic because male victims are not talked about enough in society. Society’s standards and stereotypes of a man have made it difficult for young boys and men to admit that something like rape or sexual assault has happened to them. When I was searching for potential research topics, I was searching for statutory rape pregnancies, abortions, etc. But I ran across the title “Inequality from Gener-Neutral Laws: Why Must Male Victims of Statutory Rape Pay Child Support for Children Resulting from Their Victimization” by Ruth Jones. My heart dropped because I never heard of this happening, and I was so mad at myself for not realizing this could or was happening.

*Disclaimer some of these definitions vary from different state*

Sexual Assault- sexual contact or behavior that occurs without explicit consent of the victim. (RAINN)- RAINN is the nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization.

Rape- Rape is a form of sexual assault, but not all sexual assault is rape. The term rape is often used as a legal definition to specifically include sexual penetration without consent. (RAINN)

Statutory Rape- having sexual intercourse without consent with a person who is below the statutory age of consent

Perpetrators- someone who committed or carried an unlawful act.

Pedophilia- sexual attraction toward children; is also considered a psychiatric disorder.

Child Support-“a parent’s legal obligation to contribute to the economic maintenance and education of a child until the age of majority, the child’s emancipation before reaching majority, or the child’s completion of secondary education. The obligation is enforceable both civilly and criminally.” (Lewis 263)

Gender Roles- the role or behavior "appropriate" to their gender, determined by the prevailing cultural norms, how we're expected to act, speak, dress, groom, and conduct ourselves based on our assigned gender.

Femininity-behaviors, qualities, or attributes regarded as characteristic of women both from cultural factors and biological factors.

A huge part of this topic has to do with gender roles

Men= hunter Women= gatherer

It is theorized that hunter-gatherer societies originated the idea that men are providers and women take care of the home. These were more for survival rather than societal expectations. Division of labor was crucial because surviving off the land alone was difficult. One very crucial point was the reason for this division and it was that women were able to have babies. Males had to protect and hunt meanwhile females had to collect and raise the children to ensure the survival of their offspring.

These traits and skills have played a part in modern instincts

Agrarian society (Farming-Cultivation of Land)

Shifts from groups to families, the shift of roles in marriage. Marriage best ensured physical and economic survival. Women were sold off to other families and are seen as property. The roles of men were to provide for their families, and women had to be constrained to the house and their domestic duties.

19-20th century

World War I and the industrial revolution helped genders turn away from cultivated roles. It opened women's entry into the workforce and from then it began establishing gender equality within the United States permanently.

Today

For males, it is seen as something that doesn't matter. Something that needs to be let goes of as soon as possible otherwise you're discriminated against for being a virgin. You need to rack up as many bodies as you can in order to be considered a "man". It is considered "cool" to lose your virginity to an older women at a young age, many don't consider this as a problem. Seen as dominant and the aggressors for sex.

This is one popular media in which it shows how society views these victims.

Main theme:

Colleen Hermesmann was 16 when she statutorily raped and got impregnated by Shane Seyer (12) she was his babysitter.

Herrmann received Aid from Families with Dependent Children program (ADC) from the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services (SRS).

She was then accused of engaging in sex with a minor. "She agreed to stipulate to the lesser offense of contributing to a child's misconduct {...} The juvenile court accepted the stipulation and adjudicated Colleen Hermesmann to be a juvenile offender. (not considered a sexual offense)

SRS with Hermesmann's name took Seyer to court in order to claim child support of 7k (~$15.5k in 2022) later on the department backtracked and says they never intended to get it back...?

They petitioned for paternity orders in order to receive compensation, Seyer appealed saying that he was statutory raped

SRS/Hermesmann argued that he did not report it, he consensually agreed...? but yet the law in Kansas stated: "a person under 15 years of age is incapable of consent as a matter of law".

Courts concluded "the issue of consent to sexual activity under the criminal statutes is irrelevant in a civil action to determine paternity and for support of the minor child of such activity." -a huge slap in the face to these victims

The case established a precedent that has subsequently been used in the Kansas courts. It is one of the earlier cases now cited in U.S. child-support guidelines which say that in every case that has addressed the issue the court has decided that an underage boy is liable for the support of his child even when the conception was the result of criminal conduct by the mother. (Hermesmann v. Seyer)

Side note: "Kansas Parentage Act provided "no exception for minor parents regarding their duty to support and educate their child." Yet, in at least one section of the Act, the state legislature gave the court great flexibility in allocating support obligations by stating that "the court may order the support and education expenses to be paid by either or both parents for the minor child." (Greenbaum 98)

Ricci Jones was 34 when she seduced and raped 15-year-old Nathaniel J. she ended up pregnant and gave birth to a child on January 20th, 1995.

San Luis Obispo County desired to get child support from the father in order to reimburse the welfare Jones was receiving for the child. When they realized the father of the child was a minor San Luis Obispo County prosecuted Jones and obtained a conviction of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor but no jail time.

His parents appealed that public policy protects him from the effects of sexual exploitation by an adult. Angie M. v. Superior Court (1995)

The courts disagreed "Victims have rights. Here, the victim also has responsibilities," said the opinion, written by Judge Arthur Gilbert. The judge included other cases in different states that agreed that the circumstances in which the child was conceived are a different matter than the parent’s responsibility.

This article aims to critique the strict liability standard for determining child support in cases of male victims of sexual assault and statutory rape through the lens of feminist writers and studies done on masculinity which seems to be one of her many methods. In this article, they break it down into three parts, but the one I want to focus on is:

Critiquing these laws and Morgan (a feminist) who wrote It’s Ten O’Clock: Do You Know Where Your Sperm Are? Toward a Strict Liability Theory of Parentage through feminist/masculinity lenses.

London explains the feminist side in the aspect of "My Body My Choice" which seems to be a huge part of who has the power:

This isn't something that these victims choose, this is done without their consent. Women decide what to do with their bodies, and males don’t have that choice or say in this there because they aren’t the ones carrying the child, all they provided was the sperm unknowingly or unwillingly, or even illegally.

Other than that a great job at viewing this topic through these lenses should be something the courts do as well but they are very blindsided.

London also explains why feminists' should take on this issue: "Much energy currently is being devoted to reproductive rights, especially as pro-choice groups are fighting the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in the federal courts. The Left is at a critical juncture, and, in light of the enormous obstacles presented by this Act and its supporters, a challenge to a child support standard, which brings much-needed funding to single mothers and their children, appears inconsequential or even offensive" (London 1960)