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Violence Against Women: 40 Per Cent Of Men In Alberta Poll Say Women 'Put Themselves At Risk For Rape'

Domestic Violence Alberta

The Huffington Post Canada   First Posted: 03/13/2012 12:17 pm Updated: 03/14/2012 1:02 pm

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New research released in Alberta this week revealed that men's attitudes toward women have progressed in some ways, but in others, are quite alarming -- especially when it comes to issues of rape.

One thousand Albertan men were asked in a Leger Marketing poll on behalf of Alberta Council of Women's Shelters about their perceptions on violence against women and their own role in helping stop it. Ninety-one per cent of men said they'd intervene if they knew someone in a violent relationship, though nine per cent said they'd physically assault a woman if she had sex with another man, and eight per cent said it's acceptable to physically assault a woman when she does something to make them angry.

Quick Poll

A question from the study: Do you consider withholding money from a partner domestic violence?

VOTE

Perhaps the most disturbing results from the poll were the attitudes about rape. Thirty-nine per cent of men disagree that a woman should claim rape if she was pressured to have sex with a man while both were drunk and 14 per cent believe women often say "no" when they mean "yes." In direct contrast to the efforts of SlutWalks across the world, 40 per cent of Albertan men believe that if a woman wears provocative clothing, she's putting herself at risk for rape.

The provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan have the highest number of self-reported incidents of spousal violence in Canada, while Newfoundland and Labrador, and Quebec, had significantly lower reported rates.

"This is where we're at," ACWS provincial co-ordinator Jan Reimer told Postmedia News. "We've got a realistic appraisal here, so now let's take what we know and see how we can make a difference to make things better."

The organization points to the 99 per cent agreement rate for the statement that "men can personally make a difference in promoting healthy, respectful, non-violent relationships" as a sign of hope.

SEE: Domestic violence statistics from across Canada, including the Leger Poll results illustrating men's feelings about violence against women:

SPOUSAL VIOLENCE
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Self-reported spousal violence is significantly lower than the national average in Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec, according to a 2009 Statistics Canada report.
The percentage of people who reported at least one incident of spousal violence in the five years prior differed from 4.1 per cent in Newfoundland and Labrador to 8.2 per cent in Saskatchewan and 7.6 per cent in Alberta.
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New research released in Alberta this week revealed that men's attitudes toward women have progressed in some ways, but in others, are quite alarming -- especially when it comes to issues of rape. ...
New research released in Alberta this week revealed that men's attitudes toward women have progressed in some ways, but in others, are quite alarming -- especially when it comes to issues of rape. ...
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Today the twitter account @ididnotreport1 has been posting anonymous tweets from people who have been the victims of sexual assault but not reported it to the police. These fragments of stories speak of fear, of a belief - or experience - that victims won't be listen to, and guilt.

 
 
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Peter Murphy
4 Fans
08:49 AM on 03/16/2012
I just followed the link on the slideshow to the Statistics Canada site. Only took a couple of clicks. The research seems to say that men are just as much at risk of domestic abuse as women. It says "6% reported being physically or sexually victimized by their partner or spouse in the preceding five years. This proportion was lower than that reported in 1999, but has remained stable since 2004 (Table 1.1). Overall, a similar proportion of males and females reported having experienced spousal violence in the previous 5 years (Table 1.2).

When asked about their experiences within the preceding 12 months, the proportion of Canadians who reported spousal violence dropped to 2% (Table 1.3). Again, the finding was similar for males and females."
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LanceSmith
37 Fans
10:37 PM on 03/15/2012
Yeah, and how many women would say it's ok to slap a man if he angers her?
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Naive Liberal Coworker
0 Fans
05:54 PM on 03/15/2012
How, exactly, does withholding money from a spouse constitute domestic violence? In the context of the article it seems like a loaded question, but were I approached on the street and asked the same thing I would answer "no", since it is, by definition a nonviolent act.
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pathologiq
19 Fans
06:47 PM on 03/15/2012
It's sort of a tricky question, and it doesn't always apply.

Not giving your wife 500 bucks to buy a car? Not really.

Not giving your wife 500 bucks to buy a car so that she can't work, combined with moving her away from/cutting off friends and family, and then parceling out the bare minimum of money for her to do groceries? Probably.

It's one of those weird little things only an intentionally abusive person could really do harm by. Of course, the average person wouldn't get that, so I think that was a loaded question. It sort of presupposes that everyone is totally familiar with how abusers work - if you want to be sinister, you can say they're supposing men are abusive in general. Personally, I think that it shows that people need to be educated so they can better protect themselves, friends and family.
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Filthy
173 Fans
06:35 PM on 03/28/2012
No, even in the example you gave you are talking about domestic abuse, not domestic violence. Violence is the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment or deprivation. If there is no physical force and no threat of physical force, then there is no violence.
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millyh
0 Fans
01:19 PM on 03/15/2012
To be fair, answering yes to the question regarding provocative clothing making rape more likely, does not mean that the men who answered yes think that its okay or that it's the woman's fault that she was raped.
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Rbairos
4 Fans
12:39 PM on 03/21/2012
Its like believing that wearing flashy jewellery while walking along unlit streets makes you more at risk for being mugged. Why is that wrong? If my wife wore provocative clothing in a bad area, I would feel concerned for her safety more than if she was dressed inconspicuously. Call me a regressive redneck, but its just common sense.
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Filthy
173 Fans
06:49 PM on 03/28/2012
It's not wrong, just indicates that some in the public see rape as a crime driven by lust, when in reality it's not. A rapist is more likely to rape someone that they wish to humiliate than they are to rape someone they are attracted to. I think in this survey they're simply gauging public understanding of rape. One of the problems, historically, with rape has been our collective desire to find the women involved at least partially negligent.

Now if I get into a fight with another guy, it's quite possible he was provocative, no one would argue that he wasn't at least partially complicit - unless I was just a total random bully. However if I sodomize him afterwards, few would argue that he was asking for it, or that his manner of dress was what planted the seed in my mind. You see the difference?

If you got sodomized by a stranger, and your male friends suggested that in future you change how you dress and watch where you walk at night, wouldn't you think they were sorta mental for implying that on some level you were careless and quite possibly that you wanted a strange man to put his winkie in your bum? Lightbulb on.
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Filthy
173 Fans
07:14 PM on 03/28/2012
No that's true, but it indicates that a lot of people see rape as an escalation of lust whereas in reality it is not. If you were sent to prison and were sodomized by an inmate you wouldn't attribute it to your provocative style of dress or flirty nature.
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philly282
78 Fans
12:19 PM on 03/15/2012
is alberta canada's alabama?

actually judging by the shape and its position next to british columbia (canada's california), i'd say its 'canada's nevada'
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HarleyOpenRoad
2185 Fans
12:25 PM on 03/15/2012
The West is paying Canada's bills, right now.
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YrthWyndAndFyre
Graviora manent
59 Fans
11:55 AM on 03/15/2012
I've gotta say that some of the questions on this thing are weird at best. Probably the worst, though, is the one about withholding money. What exactly am I supposed to take away from that? That if I'm in a relationship and flatly refuse to sign over my bloody chequing account then I'm an abusive partner? Oh, really? Does she have to sign her account over to me, too? If she doesn't, does that make *her* the abusive partner?

As with many such surveys, the questions leave much to be desired. If the sample of questions is representative, then I've never *not* been in an abusive relationship. In every single case, I was the abused partner, and in most cases, my partner raped me multiple times - by these standards. So...ummm...in my experience all women are violent and abusive, and most are rapists? I wouldn't have thought to characterize them that way.

Given the sponsor, though, I understand. They're biasing the survey to paint as grotesque a picture of men as they possibly can so as to exaggerate, to the highest degree possible, the severity of the problem they deal with every day. Doubtless this will make it easier for them to obtain grant money, because they did a *survey*, dammit, and just look at this! Nearly half of all men are rapists-in-waiting *by their own admission*! See! See!
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Archy-007
4 Fans
11:31 PM on 03/15/2012
If she is dependent on you, and you've been supporting her then money can be used for power and control over her so withdrawing it can be abusive.
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carmenalex
STR8 AGAINST H8
983 Fans
11:52 AM on 03/15/2012
The funny thing about this is, women are expected to "behave" and dress "appropriately" but men are not expected to change their rapey behavior.
Which is ridiculous because women wearing freakin burkas get raped as well. Rape is not about sexy, its about power.
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MJinCanada
Safe from zombies until my 2nd cup of coffee
1769 Fans
10:29 AM on 03/15/2012
I blame the evangelical churches, especially those weird fundy sects where the girls have to wear long skirts and no jewellery and can't speak up for themselves.

Some of them signed up their homeschooled kids for an art class where my husband works. They wanted their own class, no other teens to mingle with them. Well, the art teacher was a woman, so the boys wouldn't listen to her at all. They were rude and disruptive. The girls seemed scared to participate in the class at all. After a few lessons, the teacher refused to have anything more to do with them.

And an evangelical Lutheran that I know told me how she looked for counseling when her marriage turned abusive. The counselor she met through her church told her that it was normal for a husband to slap a wife around occasionally. She found another counselor.
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carmenalex
STR8 AGAINST H8
983 Fans
11:47 AM on 03/15/2012
Religion poisons.
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HarleyOpenRoad
2185 Fans
12:34 PM on 03/15/2012
True Christianity liberates (not the rich, greedy televangelist kind).

The kind that tirelessly volunteers at soup kitchens, food banks, donates to cancer research, occasionally to Greenpeace, spends most of their lives comforting AIDS sufferers in African hospices, anonymously mails a few hundred dollars to the poor widow down the street, scolds the rich for their greed, praises the poor for their generous nature when demonstrated, shows humility, etc.

Those kinds.
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Nirzwan Bandolin
25 Fans
10:27 AM on 03/15/2012
Yeah, I think people do a lot of stupid things that puts them at risk for all kinds of things. I ride a bicycle and am definitely at high risk of being run over by a teen in an SUV that is texting. We can either get smarter or continue getting hurt and making excuses for why it keeps happening. That is just human nature I guess. I need to go buy more flashing lights now for my bike.
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john649
326 Fans
10:44 AM on 03/15/2012
what has riding a bike got to do with male agression and rape towards women.
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Nirzwan Bandolin
25 Fans
10:58 AM on 03/15/2012
I don't really know? Oh wait, riding a bike gets you in shape and builds up your testosterone. Testosterone makes you more violent.
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kokoro1
16 Fans
09:45 AM on 03/15/2012
If you look through the slide show there are also some other shocking statistics. Apparently 5% thought that forcing your partner to have sex is never domestic violence. Seriously? Who are these 5% ? I know that is a very small portion but the fact that anyone would actually think they weren't doing anything wrong astounds me.
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traveling1
50 states, 7 continents, 55 countries and counting
281 Fans
11:30 AM on 03/15/2012
3-7% also think it's okay to slap your kids in the face, make violent threats, push their partner. It's not that small of a percentage. Worse, 25% think domestic violence shouldn't always be a crime? And 40% blame women for rape because they are "wearing provocative clothing"?? If this was some third world country, I might expect this, but Canada? Women are still in trouble.
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kokoro1
16 Fans
02:31 PM on 03/15/2012
Agreed. but voice that and wait for them to call you a RADICAL feminist. LOL!!
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John Devlin
26 Fans
09:49 PM on 03/31/2012
Well, marital rape is legal in China and much of the Islamic world, among other places.
I suppose it's possible that some of the 5% is made up of people who have imported those cultural views.

...I'd assume that most people who still adhere to the view that there's no such thing as rape in a marriage do so for religious reasons.
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dsws
No owning ideas. Limit only commercial use.
402 Fans
 
05:58 AM on 03/15/2012
I sometimes yell when my wife has her hearing aid turned down because of background noise. And 22% of respondents think that this constitutes "domestic violence".

Meanwhile, 39% think that actually hitting a child sometimes *doesn't* constitute domestic violence.

There are some serious problems with this survey.
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MJinCanada
Safe from zombies until my 2nd cup of coffee
1769 Fans
10:31 AM on 03/15/2012
Yelling because of distance, hearing impairment or power tool noise isn't what they mean, though. They're talking about shouting in order to intimidate.
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john649
326 Fans
10:45 AM on 03/15/2012
yes, the comments from males here are quite disturbing. Some of them haven't a clue.
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dsws
No owning ideas. Limit only commercial use.
402 Fans
 
11:04 AM on 03/15/2012
Yes, they mention yelling in a context that suggests intimidation. But what they actually say is that yelling at a partner *always* constitutes domestic violence -- which is ridiculous. And even when it's intimidation, it's still not violence.
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carmenalex
STR8 AGAINST H8
983 Fans
11:48 AM on 03/15/2012
Try to use your critical thinking skills.
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dsws
No owning ideas. Limit only commercial use.
402 Fans
 
05:50 AM on 03/15/2012
Withholding money is "violence"? What? It can be abuse. It can be harmful. It can certainly be a creepy and unconscionable mis-use of power. But anyone who thinks it's "violence" doesn't speak English very well. There is such a thing as non-violent crime.

How does being pressured to have sex, by itself, constitute rape -- without the additional premise that the pressure was actually successful? Attempted rape is also a crime. But it's not the same crime as rape. And not every slight pressure even constitutes attempted rape. Sometimes the pressure has no realistic chance of succeeding. In that case, it's not a crime at all. It's just being a pathetic jerk.
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DorothyGale2
0 Fans
07:29 PM on 03/14/2012
I think the use of the term "domestic violence" is odd... Many of the things they list are abuse, but they are not violence according to the dictionary definition. The wording of a lot of their questions is ambiguous and makes the data worthless.
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MJinCanada
Safe from zombies until my 2nd cup of coffee
1769 Fans
10:45 AM on 03/15/2012
Domestic violence is a different thing than violence in general. It includes controlling and abusive behaviours that constitute psychological violence, partly because psychological and emotional abuse (bullying) is a step toward physical violence.

One of my former co-workers escaped a marriage where controlling factors led to more physical violence. It started with her husband expecting her to have the house perfect and ready to entertain guests at any time -- he would bring people home without warning, even when they had two toddlers. He expected her to dress herself and the little ones very well on a tight budget (he could spend whatever he wanted on his suits, though). Whenever she "failed" in any small detail, he berated her, mocked her, punished her by holding back more money. (And he wouldn't let her work because she had to be home to look after the house.) When he started pushing and hitting as well, she had an epiphany. Not even having bus fare, she had a long phone call with her parents and her dad drove hundreds of miles to get her and the kids out of there before the hubby saw the phone bill.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Filthy
173 Fans
07:01 PM on 03/28/2012
You missed DorothyGale2's point. Some behaviour constitutes domestic abuse, but domestic violence must include violence or the threat of violence. The example you give is domestic violence - and as such is no different than the commonly held definition of violence. Withholding money however is not violence. It may be domestic abuse, but it is not domestic violence unless you are withholding money through the use of violence or under threat of violence. She is correct, the wording of the questionnaire is confused and muddled.
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Adrian Cuiba
1 Fans
05:37 PM on 03/14/2012
thats true they are provocative
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Suntoucher
1 Fans
02:41 PM on 03/14/2012
It Doesn't matter what women wear..provocative or not...a rapist will rape them anyway. It's all about control. If a woman shouldn't wear short skirts & low cut blouses...then men shouldn't take off their shirts when they are warm, or wear tight fitting jeans. To blame a violent sex act on the appearance of a woman, is just an excuse for the rapist to give when they plan on raping a woman anyway.
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Rbairos
4 Fans
12:46 PM on 03/21/2012
No one who warns against dressing provocatively claims its the victims fault. If your teenage daughter decided to go to the mall at night in a bikini top and mini, would being worried she would attract the attention of a rapist make you a bad father??? Would asking your son not to wear flashy jewellery in public at night, make you regressive? No where in this report do I see people blaming victims, only that they believe what you wear can in some situations attract attention of dangerous individuals, putting them at higher risk. They may be right or wrong in that assumption, but nowhere is the victim being blamed for the crime.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Filthy
173 Fans
07:07 PM on 03/28/2012
Teaching your teenage daughter that her manner or style of dress increases or decreases her risk of sexual assault reinforces the notion that rape is the result, at least in part, of female negligence. Notice you mentioned your daughter and not your son. Do you warn your son not to dress provocatively lest he be sodomized? No of course you don't - you see no correlation between his manner of dress and the likelihood of that happening. And if you or your son were beaten and sodomized by a stranger you would be unlikely to ponder what influence your tight jeans had to play in the assault. And if I suggested to you (say a week after you'd been beaten and sodomized by a stranger) that you'd have to dress less provocatively from now on, wouldn't you find it slightly odd and mildly insulting?
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