Study: 1 in 4 men in parts of Asia have raped women

LONDON — About 1 in 4 men in some parts of Asia admitted raping a woman, according to the first large studies of rape and sexual violence. About 1 in 10 admitted raping a woman who was not their partner.

International researchers said their startling finding should change perceptions about how common violence against women is and prompt major campaigns to prevent it. Still, the results were based on a survey of only six Asian countries, and the authors said it was uncertain what rates were like elsewhere in the region and beyond. They said ingrained sexist attitudes contributed, but that other factors, such as poverty or being emotionally and physically abused as children, were major risk factors for men’s violent behavior.

A previous report from the World Health Organization found that one-third of women worldwide say they have been victims of domestic or sexual violence.

“It’s clear violence against women is far more widespread in the general population than we thought,” said Rachel Jewkes of South Africa’s Medical Research Council, who led the two studies. The research was paid for by several United Nations agencies and Australia, Britain, Norway and Sweden. The papers were published online Tuesday in the journal, Lancet Global Health.

In the new research, male interviewers surveyed more than 10,000 men in Bangladesh, China, Cambodia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Papua New Guinea. The word “rape” was not used in the questions, but the men were asked if they had ever forced a woman to have sex when she wasn’t willing, or if they had ever forced sex on someone who was too drunk or drugged to consent.

In most places, scientists concluded that between 6 to 8 percent of men raped a woman who wasn’t their partner. When they included wives and girlfriends, the figures were mostly between 30 to 57 percent.

Just under half of these men said they had raped more than one woman.

The lowest rates were in Bangladesh, at 4 percent, and the highest were in Papa New Guinea, on its Bougainville Island, at 41 percent. The high prevalence of rape in Bougainville could be associated with a long history of civil unrest, but such a link is unclear, the researchers said.

Previous studies of rape have been done in South Africa, where nearly 40 percent of men are believed to have raped a woman.

The most common reasons given by the men for committing rape were that they felt entitled to sex (73 percent), found it entertaining (59 percent) or did it to punish a woman (38 percent).

Besides the men’s own history of victimization, the survey found that other associated factors included a history of physical violence toward a partner, of paying for sex or having a large number of sexual partners. Only about half of the men said they felt guilty, and 23 percent had been imprisoned for a rape.

“The problem is shocking, but anyplace we have looked, we see partner violence, victimization and sexual violence,” said Michele Decker, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who co-wrote an accompanying commentary. “Rape doesn’t just involve someone with a gun to a woman’s head,” she said. “People tend to think of rape as something someone else would do.

“The findings from this multi-country study provide local, national and international policymakers with the evidence base and mandate to create meaningful and sustainable reforms,” Ms. Decker wrote.

Los Angeles Times contributed.