Society’s attitudes to violence against women

36% of people asked in a recent Home Office survey believed that a woman should be held wholly or partly responsible for being sexually assaulted or raped if she was drunk, and 26% if she was in public wearing sexy or revealing clothes. [Home Office, 2009]

 

Over a quarter of people think a woman bears some responsibility for being raped if she is wearing revealing clothing. [Rape Crisis Scotland, Rape Crisis Scotland Public Awareness Campaign, in Rape Crisis (England and Wales) National Conference. Leeds (5 February 2008)]

 

18% think rape can be a woman's fault if she is known to have had many sexual partners. [Rape Crisis Scotland, Rape Crisis Scotland Public Awareness Campaign, in Rape Crisis (England and Wales) National Conference. Leeds (5 February 2008)]

 

30% of people believe that domestic violence is acceptable in certain circumstances. [ICM (2003) Hitting Home BBC Domestic Violence Survey]

 

Nearly half of people believe that domestic violence is something that happens behind closed doors and is for the partners to sort out. [ICM (2003) Hitting Home BBC Domestic Violence Survey]

 

More people would call the police if someone was mistreating their dog than if someone was mistreating their partner (78% versus 53%). [ICM (2003) Hitting Home BBC Domestic Violence Survey]

 

The majority of young people are confused about the issue of domestic violence and want to learn more. [Mullender, A., Hague, G., Imam, U., Kelly, L., Malos, E. and Regan, L. (2002) Children's perspectives on domestic violence.]

 

Nearly a third of men think that domestic violence is acceptable if their partner has been nagging them. [ICM (2003) Hitting Home BBC Domestic Violence Survey]

 

One in five young men considers it acceptable to force a woman to have sex if they are married. [ICM (2003) Hitting Home BBC Domestic Violence Survey]

 

A poll for Amnesty in 2005 found that;

• a third of people believe women who flirt are partially responsible for being raped

• a quarter of those asked said that they thought a women was partially or totally responsible for being raped if she was wearing sexy or revealing clothing
• more than one in five (22%) held the same view if a woman has many sexual partners
• around one in 12 people (8%) believed that a woman was totally responsible for being raped if she has many sexual partners
• more than a quarter of people (30%) said that a woman was partially or totally responsible for being raped if she was drunk
• more than a third (37%) held the same view if the woman had failed to clearly say "no" to the man.

[Amnesty International UK 'Problem? What problem?']