25% Indian men indulge in sexual abuse: Survey

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: A new study has found that children in India are more exposed to risk factors that make them sexually violent later in life, as per a Times of India report.

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The study carried out by the International Centre for Research on Women and two other organisations, found that 24.5 per cent of Indian men covered by it had engaged in sexual violence at some point, and most of them against an intimate partner.

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The study also found India is far ahead when compared to countries like Rwanda, Mexico, Croatia and Chile.

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It found that sexual aggression, including teasing and sexual harassment, was high among Indian youth, while alcohol abuse was cited as the second leading influencing factor that led to rape.

For the study, Delhi and Vijayawada were chosen as the sites in India, where 2,000 men aged 18-59 years were asked a series of questions that address different forms of rape such as marital rape, gang-rape and rape of women under the influence of alcohol.

The study found that men who experienced neglect or were abused as children tend to be more sexually aggressive than others.

Among Indian men, 34% of those who were sexually abused in childhood report sexual violence perpetration and 36.8% said they felt neglected as children.

Nearly half of the sampled Indian men who have physically abused a partner also perpetrated sexual violence.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau data, more than 90 women are raped in India every day.

The study also reveald that along with Chile, the incidence of men raping under the influence of alcohol was on the higher side in India.

Dr Shanthi Ranganathan of TT Ranganathan Clinical Research Foundation, who has worked for more than four decades treating alcoholism and drug dependency explained why: Intoxicants make people lose their inhi bitions. “In the Delhi Nirbhaya gangrape case, all the rapists were drunk. Alcohol gives people a false sense of courage and they don't really think of the consequences,” she said.

However, the data collected as part of the study does not support the notion that perpetration of rape is significantly related to education level, employment status, age or marital status. In India, husbands and fathers are more likely to perpetrate sexual violence than other men.

“Sexual violence being limited to a particular class is a myth,” Prasanna Gettu, CEO of International Foundation for Crime Prevention and Victim Care (PCVC), was quoted as saying to TOI.

The study recommended more gender sensitisation programmes at school level to reduce violence and prompt healthier, non-violent lifestyles in multiple age groups.