One in four men victims of sexual harassment, Australian Bureau of Statistics report finds

A groundbreaking new report found that while 53 per cent of women have experienced sexual harassment, incidents against men are also becoming more common.

One in four men have been victims of sexual harassment from being touched and grabbed to receiving indecent emails and unwanted comments about their sex life.

The groundbreaking report from the Australian Bureau of Statistics has found that while 53 per cent of women reported experiencing sexual harassment in their lifetime, men are also victims and the incidents are becoming more common.

The report found that 2.2 million, or 25 per cent of men, had been harassed with 13 per cent, or 1.1 million, reporting unwanted touching, grabbing, kissing or fondling and 11 per cent of men or 1 million, reporting body-shaming and inappropriate comments about their sex life.

Indecent exposure had been experienced by 700,000 men, or 7.8 per cent.

A report by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed the prevalence of sexual harassment increased between 2012 and 2016 for both men and women.

The report also found sexual harassment was getting worse with the prevalence increasing between 2012 and 2016 for both men and women.

The report was based on 2016 figures which showed that in the previous 12 months, 4.5 per cent of men, or 403,000, were sexually harassed by a man and 6.7 per cent, or 604,000, were sexually harassed by a woman.

Social media was blamed for a lot of the increase with indecent texts, emails or other social media posts accounting for 7 per cent of overall sexual harassment in 2016 compared with 4.9 per cent in 2012.

Reports of indecent exposure reached 2.7 per cent compared with 1.5 per cent in 2012 and unwanted touching, grabbing, kissing, or fondling reported by 5.2 per cent of people compared with 3.9 per cent in 2012.

One in three women reported receiving inappropriate comments about their body or sex life, with 30 per cent reporting unwanted touching, grabbing, kissing, or fondling.

Men as well as women were more afraid to walk alone in the dark after enduring sexual harassment with 15 per cent of those who were victims reporting that fear compared with 6.5 per cent who had not experienced the harassment.

More than a quarter or 27 per cent of women who had been sexually harassed felt unsafe walking their local streets alone at night compared with 18 per cent of women who had not been sexually harassed.

Those who had experienced sexual harassment in their life were more likely to have also experienced sexual assault since the age of 15, compared with those who had not experienced sexual harassment.

Age and socio-economic factors including “cash flow problems” were all associated with higher rates of sexual harassment with women and men aged 18-24 reporting more harassment than at other ages.

Those who were unmarried, had a non-school qualification such as a degree or diploma or a disability or long term health condition were also more likely to be victimised.

It follows the recent report into sexual harassment and bullying in federal parliament that found 26 per cent of men and 40 per cent of women experienced sexual harassment.