Health & Medicine

Why do Men Rape? 25 Percent of Participants in Asian Study Admit to it

Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Sep 10, 2013 11:42 AM EDT

A recent report shows that as many as 1 in 10 men in some parts of Asia have admitted to raping a woman who was not their partner. And to make matters worse, when their wife or girlfriend was included in the research, the findings shot up to 1 in 4.

These results were based on a survey of only six Asian countries, and the authors were uncertain what rates were like elsewhere in regions beyond. Study authors note that cultural sexist attitudes were examined as well as emotional and physical abuse encountered among some male participants as children that often resulted in a higher risk for violent behavior as an adult.

Statistics from the World Health Organization show that approximately  one-third of women worldwide have been victims of domestic or sexual violence.

Researchers interviewed more than 10,000 men at nine sites in Bangladesh, China, Cambodia, Indonesia, Papau New Guinea and Sri Lanka in the first multi-country survey on the prevalence of rape, according to one of the study authors Rachel Jewkes of South Africa's Medical Research Council.

This news comes at the same time that four Delhi men were convicted Tuesday via a highly publicized rape trial in India, a case that has resulted in protests among sexual violence and laws concerning this problem.

Study findings showed that just under half of the perpetrators said they had raped more than one woman with rate rapes between various sites differing, according to background information from the study.

These findings encourage new prevention methods in order to stop rape, including educational support that promotes gender equality and ridding the cultural stereotype of what it means to be masculine.  

"It's not enough to focus on services for women," said Charlotte Watts, head of the Gender, Violence and Health Centre at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who was not part of the study, via CBS News. She said some programs in Africa based on challenging traditional ideas of masculinity are proving successful.

She adds that "It may be that the culture where they grew up condones violence, but it's not impossible to change that."

What do you think?

The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) shows that approximately 2/3 of rapes are committed by someone known to the victim and 73 percent of sexual assaults are perpetrated by a non-stranger. Approximately 38 percent of rapists are a friend or an acquaintance; 28 percent are an intimate and 7 percent are a relative. 

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