Masculine and Violent Temporalities: Examining the Legacies of Men’s Unwanted Sexual Experiences

This article argues that sexual violence ruptures masculine temporalities, revealing the limits of gendered constructions of time and the ways they sustain violence and inequality. We draw upon research that explored the lives of 40 men living in England after incidents of sexual violence. Exploring the relationship between masculinized temporalities and the rupture created by sexual violence, we argue that gendered temporalities enable violence to be maintained and continued, rupturing the everyday life of survivors as they negotiate contradicting temporalities. We highlight three temporal conditions—past/present, waiting, and future imaginations—to demonstrate the ways masculinized temporalities contradict and clash with the ruptured temporalities following incidents of sexual violence.