Re rape of male character: honestly yes, it was pretty unusual. The 90s was where some elements of it started to be engaged with, but the idea that men were as vulnerable to rape in violent situations as women was not something that especially a mainstream, literarily praised book did. It was still pretty unusual in the early 00s, even as it became a pretty common trope in specifically fandom and (usually woman-authored) some ends of SF.

As Rachel notes, it was almost certainly the first time a lot of readers had seen it actually engaged with, rather than merely as the lolarious punchline to raunchy prison jokes (which would still actually find some way to victim-blame in that case, usually by framing it so that somehow being in prison sexually perverted the men who had it happen to them so that they would put up with it).

The 80s and 90s were honestly pretty horrific on every level still in terms of ideas that men could only be victimized if somehow they failed their manliness and that being victimized inherently meant they did so and become other-than-men. Which, see the Otherwise award.