MSA

WARNING: This article references indecent assault and suicide.

A Wellington man says his life has been destroyed by an indecent assault and what he sees as significant failings by the justice system. Mackenzie Skinner speaks to the Herald about the reality of being a male abuse survivor in Aotearoa.

Mackenzie Skinner has lost friends, family, his job, and left the only town he’s ever known. He says he has truly lost everything.

Before he was indecently assaulted, Skinner’s life was on the up. He had a start-up business, a new job, and people he thought were his friends.

Now he spends most days sitting alone in his apartment and says he’s lost count of the times he’s considered whether life is worth living.

How many times can someone ask for help before they give up?

Mackenzie Skinner

Two years ago Skinner was unconscious in the back of a car when he says a man filmed while a woman repeatedly tried to insert an object into his anus.

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Southern survivors of sexual abuse are being turned away for important support at an alarming rate, leaving them devastated and re-traumatised, an advocate claims.

The Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) has come under fire for disestablishing its Wellington-based sensitive claims unit, which dealt with physical or mental injuries following criminal acts, including sexual violence, in favour of regional case managers.

There have also been concerns about the number of survivors having claims declined.

ACC says it has not changed how it assesses sensitive claims, and that it has increased the number of specialist staff working one-on-one with survivors.

Male Survivors Otago manager Michael Chamberlain said he was aware of at least four men in recent months who had had claims either denied or downgraded by ACC.

They’re devastated, basically they don’t know where to go.

Michael Chamberlain

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Advocates now calling for the Crown to do more to redress this collective loss to hapū from our “stolen generation”.

For the last two weeks the public has heard testimony from survivors, witnesses and former staff who were at the Lake Alice Child and Adolescent unit in the 1970s – almost half of whom were Māori.

Their stories of abuse detailed how the trauma at the hands of the state, alongside being disconnected from their culture, has left a mark that is being felt by their children and grandchildren.

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The NSW inquiry into coercive control in domestic relationships published its report this week.

The report contains the following sickeningly sexist (and factually incorrect) gendered analysis of coercive control. Apparently men and lesbian women can control their partners but heterosexual women are unable to do so except in (presumably) rare cases.

The report also cited testimony from the One in Three Campaign but used it as an example of a disabled victim (not a male victim), despite much of Mr Bennett’s abuse while disabled being highly gendered (i.e. it wouldn’t have happened to a disabled female).

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