Nearly 25% Of Men In Parts Of Asia Admitted To Rape In This UN Survey
Of the men surveyed, nearly 25% admitted to raping a woman at least once.
The survey included participants from Bangladesh, China, Cambodia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Sri Lanka.
The word "rape" was not used in the survey, but participants were asked questions about whether they have:
- Forced a woman who was not their wife or girlfriend at the time to have sex;
- Had sex with a woman who was too drunk or drugged to indicate whether she wanted it; or
- Forced a partner to have sex when they knew she didn't want it but believed she should agree because she was his wife or partner.
One in 10 men surveyed admitted to raping a woman who was not his partner. The percentage of men who admitted to rape rose to nearly 25% when partners were included.
The problem varies somewhat by country. In Bangladesh, 11% of men admitted to rape, while in Papua New Guinea, 60% of men said they had raped someone. Rape was least common in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, while the percentage of men who admitted to rape varied widely in China, Indonesia, and Cambodia.
The biggest motivation for rape: sexual entitlement.
From the study:
All men who had raped were asked if they agreed or disagreed (on a four-point Likert scale) with a set of statements about why they did it. The statements expressed sexual entitlement (or the belief that if a man wants sex he has a right to have it, irrespective of the woman's views: "I wanted her," "I wanted to have sex," or "I wanted to show I could do it.").
Of the men who said they had committed rape, 73% endorsed the "sexual entitlement" statements.
Another disturbing figure to emerge from the study is the percentage of men who went to prison for rape. Only 23% of those who admitted to rape said they went to prison for it, and only 55% said they felt guilty after the rape. And the majority of men - 57% - said they first committed rape when they were teenagers.
This study comes on the heels of the conviction of four men in India for a violent gang rape that turned to murder. Two of the accused rapists were teenagers at the time of the crime.
"More than half of non-partner rape perpetrators first did so as adolescents, which affirms that young people are a crucial target population for prevention of rape," said Dr. Michele Decker from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in a statement provided to BBC.
"The challenge now is to turn evidence into action, to create a safer future for the next generation of women and girls."