Nearly 75% of those who committed rape said that they did so for sexual entitlement and over 50% said they did it for entertainment. Another 50% of men reported having committed some form of physical or sexual violence or abuse against their partner.
Men were surveyed from nine different sites across six different countries: Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Sri Lanka as part of a UN study on men and violence for prevention of gender-based violence in Asia and the Pacific.
Professor Rachel Jewkes of South Africa's Medical Research Council who carried out the study said, "In view of the high prevalence of rape worldwide, our findings clearly show that prevention strategies need to show increased focus on the structural and social risk factors for rape. We now need to move towards a culture of preventing the perpetration of rape from ever occurring, rather than relying on prevention through responses."
The surveys were performed by trained male interviewers who recorded results onto handheld computer devices with bespoke software. Participants answered the most sensitive questions alone by self-completing audio recordings in response to questions.
Men were not asked directly whether they had committed rape or violence, but were rather asked questions such as, "Have you ever forced a woman who was not your wife or girlfriend at the time to have sex?", or "Have you ever had sex with a woman who was too drugged or drunk to indicate whether she wanted it?"
Overall, over one in ten men surveyed (11%) reported having raped a woman who was not their partner.
When raping a partner was included, this proportion rose to nearly 24%. Of those men who reported having committed rape, just under half (45%) said they had raped more than one woman.
The prevalence of rape perpetration varied widely between study sites. The lowest prevalence of single perpetrator rape of a female non-partner was in rural Bangladesh (3%), while the highest prevalence (27%) was in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea.
The lowest prevalence (2%) of male rape was found in Jayapura and Jakarta in Indonesia while the highest (8%) was again found in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea.
When asked why they had committed rape, 73% of respondents who had committed rape said that they did so for reasons of sexual entitlement.
Over half (59%) said they did it for entertainment, while over a third (38%) said they had raped a woman in order to punish her. Over half (58%) of men who had raped somebody who was not their partner had committed their first rape as teenagers.
Men with a history of victimization especially childhood sexual abuses were more likely to have committed rape than those without such a past.
A history of physical violence towards a partner, having paid for sex, or having had a large number of sexual partners were also associated with an increased likelihood of having committed rape against a non-partner. TOI
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