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To gather material for this section, I've experimented with different phrases and several major Web search engines. It's important to use each engine's option to search for the exact phrase instead of each of the words. Some engines accept a "phrase in quotes" while others have a check-box or drop-down menu selection to specify this.
I think the number of matches found can be used as an indicator of the availability of information on this topic. First: anyone with a Web browser can easily replicate the results. Second: changes in the number of matches over time would indicate a change in the raw amount of information available on the Web. Comparing this to other indicators of Web use, as well as match counts of other phrases, would provide a measure of the relative increase or decrease of information.
A note on "homosexual rape." This turns up a lot of cultural and religious references, mostly sensationalizing, if not derogatory and defamatory.
Update, October 2, 1998: Well, I could have expected it, but it's disheartening nonetheless. Validating these search links turned up sex sites using "male rape" as a keyword phrase.
| Search engine | |||||
| 1997.07.28 | 1997.07.30 | 1997.08.09 | 1997.07.19 | ||
| Search phrase | HotBot | AltaVista | Lycos | WebCrawler | |
| male rape | 279 | 197 | 124 | 23 | |
| homosexual rape | 1997.08.24 175 |
||||
| male sexual assault | 57 | 34 | 22 | ||
| sexual assault of men | 40 | 4 | 22 | ||
| male rape victims | 39 | 18 | 25 | ||
| male victims of sexual assault | 28 | 11 | 8 | ||
| sexual assault of males | 11 | 6 | 5 | ||
| men sexually assaulted as adults | 4 | 2 | 0 | ||
Revision history:
1997.09.22: Created this page