One in five Canadians think drunk women encourage sexual assault

by Miranda Nelson on July 9th, 2013 at 1:01 PM

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If she's drunk, she's asking for it. That's what almost one in five Canadians believe, according to a new survey.

The study, conducted by the Canadian Women’s Foundation, found that 19 percent of Canadians still think a woman "may provoke or encourage sexual assault when they are drunk."

Twenty-three percent of respondents between the ages of 18 and 34 agreed.

Fifteen percent of those polled believe that the mere act of flirting with a man encourages sexual assault, while 11 percent feel short skirts are an enticement to assault.

The only silver lining to this study is that over 80 percent of respondents have figured out that a woman's level of intoxication doesn't have anything to do with her desire to have sex.

To anyone who thinks that a drunk woman is encouraging rape: the only thing that causes rape is rapists. Not drinking. Not clothing. Not flirting.

This is probably a good time to remind everyone that nearly one in five women will be raped in her lifetime and nearly one in two women will experience some form of sexual assault.

Only 10 percent of sexual assaults in Canada are ever reported to police.

Comments

5 Comments

David

Jul 9, 2013 at 2:36pm

If I'm reading those numbers right it's much, much worse than the numbers would suggest.

It stands to reason that almost all of the 23% are men. In a random sample half the respondents are women so the mens' score is roughly double that for the whole survey.

Adjust downward to reflect the fact that a few women do blame the victim and you get an astounding 40-45% of men agreeing that a drunk girl is asking for it. That is shocking and very sad and explains why this problem isn't going away.

Mike

Jul 10, 2013 at 8:53am

First off I did the bar scene for a while and found out it was not the best way to meet someone and have a friendship let alone a relationship. Some "men" can only have a relationship this way. Some women too. I'm glad I found this out early. They all seemed to be having a good time at the time even when the brawls broke out. The accidents where 4-5 lives are changed or lost because of driving after drinking is another point to rub in their faces.
I'm very glad I am not them. So are my friends and neighbors.
Rebels without causes.

Hebo

Mar 8, 2014 at 11:20pm

I find these finding implausible. I'd be interested in how these questions are phrased.

Kevin

Mar 10, 2014 at 8:13pm

You want people to take you seriously, how about you show us your methods?

Who did you ask, how did you find them, where did you find them, where did you ask, how did you ask, what did you ask, how was it phrased, how did you draw these conclusions?

By the way, I can see some glaring errors from even what you have reported. First, self selection bias. Secondly, you literally surveyed 23 people, who are part of a tiny subset of our population, and used your answers to draw a conclusion about our entire population. Jesus Christ this is fucking awful journalism.