Nearly half of young men don’t believe sexual assault claims

Nearly one in three young men don’t believe women who say they’ve been raped and nearly half think sexual assault allegations are often made to punish men, a survey about violence against women reveals.

Nearly one in three young men don’t believe women who say they’ve been raped and nearly half think sexual assault allegations are often made to punish men, a new survey shows.

The National Community Attitudes towards Violence against Women Survey also suggests a quarter of young men think it’s flattering to persistently pursue someone who isn’t interested and two in five think it’s natural for a man to be in control of his partner in front of his friends. One in five also believe a man should take control of relationships.

The survey, of 1761 young people aged 16 to 24, shows young people — especially young men — are more willing to accept gender equality in the public sphere than in their private lives. Gender inequity is widely accepted as a key precursor to violence against women.

It also shows 45 per cent of young men and 29 per cent of young women think sexual assault allegations are a common way of getting back at men.

Compared to 2013, there are some improvement in overall attitudes, but problem areas remain, such as the one in five who think sometimes a woman can make a man so angry he hits her when he didn’t mean to and one in six who think domestic violence is just “a normal reaction to day-to-day stress and frustration”.

A quarter of young men think it’s flattering to persistently pursue someone who isn’t interested.

The survey, which was first developed in 1987, also shows young people tend to blame women if their nude images are shared without consent.

The research, released on Wednesday by Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety and VicHealth, suggests almost half of young people think many women exaggerate gender inequality and mistakenly interpret innocent remarks or acts as sexist.

ANROWS chief executive Dr Heather Nancarrow said many of these attitudes were disturbing and shows there is “a long way to go in educating young people about the difference between a healthy relationship and abusive behaviour”.

Lead researcher Dr Anastasia Powell from RMIT said more should be done to teach young men about consent.

“It’s highly problematic that young men think it’s sometimes OK to force sex on a woman, or believe that women want men to persistently pursue them even after they’ve said they’re not interested,” she said.

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VicHealth acting chief executive Dr Lyn Roberts said young people “need more support in order to have healthy and respectful relationships”.

The Minister for Prevention of Family Violence, Gabrielle Williams said the government was investing in behaviour change programs such as Respect Women: Call it Out.

If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au. In an emergency call triple-0.