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- Researchers published
a troubling report yesterday which
claimed that one in two young men
think that raping a woman is acceptable
in certain circumstances, while
one in four believe it is justifiable to
hit a woman.
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- The research carried
out by the Zero Tolerance charitable
trust, an Edinburgh-based group
which campaigns against sexual and physical
violence against women,
also found that a third of all girls surveyed thought
forcing a woman
to have sex was acceptable in some circumstances.
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- Academics from Glasgow and
north London universities
questioned 2,039 people aged 14 to 21 in
Glasgow, Manchester and Fife to
discover their attitudes towards
violence and women. The results shocked
the academics involved with the
survey. "It was shattering,"
said Sheila Burton of North
London university, one of a team of four who
wrote the report. "We
didn't set out to find such a result so we were
shocked by
it."
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- The researchers found one in five young men thought forcing
their wives to have sex would be acceptable, while one in seven agreed
it would be justifiable in a long-term relationship. One in 10 thought
there was nothing wrong with raping a woman if the man was "so turned
on he can't stop", while one in six said "if she'd slept with
loads of men" was a valid reason.
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- One in six of the boys
questioned thought they might
personally force a woman to have sex with
them, while nearly one in 10
would rape a woman "if nobody would
find out".
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- Sandra Horley, chief executive of Refuge, which helps
women who
have suffered domestic violence, said: "The widespread acceptance
of forced sex and physical violence is totally unacceptable.
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- "Such attitudes
can only be behind the dreadful
prevalence of domestic violence in
society.
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- "The findings of Zero Tolerance confirm the urgent
need to
plough resources into reducing the number of domestic violence
incident."
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- In total, the findings meant half of all those surveyed
had
said rape was acceptable in one set of circumstances.
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- Only two-thirds of the young
men surveyed were sure they
would not personally force a woman to have
sex in any set of circumstances,
regardless of their view on whether it
was "acceptable in general".
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- In comparison one in three
women thought it was acceptable
under certain circumstances for a man
to force a woman into sex.
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- The researchers also studied attitudes to violence
towards
women and found one in four young men thought hitting a woman
could be
justified if she had "slept with someone else". And
one in eight
said it would be OK to hit a "nagging" woman,
while one in 10
said hitting a "disrespectful" woman was
justified.
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- Of the young women asked the same question, 12% thought
it was
acceptable for a man to hit a woman if she had slept with someone
else,
while one in 50 said hitting a girlfriend was justifiable. One young
man said: "Some women just need a slap to the jaw and put into the
bedroom to calm down."
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- Another, asked if women triggered abuse, said:
"Some
birds really do provoke rape. It's the way they strut about:
'Come and
get me'."
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- A spokesman for the home office said: "We take the
issue of domestic violence very seriously and we have two major campaigns
to tackle the issue - Break the Chain and Living Without
Fear."
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