Last year in France, 62,000 women and 2,700 men were victims of rape or attempted rape. Assaults that occur mainly within the family.
Speech begins to free, but the victims of sexual assault are still numerous. In France, one in seven women and one in 25 men confess having experienced at least one form of sexual assault during their lifetime, according to a study conducted by the National Institute of Demographic Studies (INED) and published the day before. the International Day for Combating Violence Against Women.
This survey, entitled Violence and Gender Relations (Virages), was carried out among 16,000 women and 12,000 men aged 20 to 69 and living in mainland France. They were questioned by telephone about violence or assaults they may have suffered in their lives and during the past year. However, these questions did not take into account the facts of sexual harassment and exhibitionism, both classified as criminal, which will be the subject of further work.
777,000 male and female victims
The survey reports that over the past 12 months, 553,000 women and 185,000 men have been victims of sexual assault such as touching sex, buttocks or breasts, forced kissing. And 62,000 women and 2,700 men were victims of rape or attempted rape. In total, nearly 580,000 women and 197,000 men reported being victims of sexual violence last year.
These assaults are reported more frequently by the youngest. Indeed, “between 20 and 34 years, they concern one woman in 20, that is to say five times more between 50 and 69 years”, indicates INED. Likewise, rape and attempted rape are three times more frequent among young women than older women.
The researchers also report that among women who have experienced rape or attempted rape in their lifetime, 40% have been in their childhood, 16% between 15 and 17 years and 44% in adulthood.
Violence that occurs especially in the family (43% of women raped by a family member or loved one) or in marriage (37% have been sexually assaulted by their spouse or ex-partner) who “are frequently repeated and can continue for long periods, ”the study points out. On the other hand, three-quarters of rapes and attempted rapes of men were done before they came of age.
A non-protective private space
Whatever the setting in which these crimes or offenses were committed, women are the first victims of this violence, which is almost exclusively the act of one or more men. Violence which remains massive and which is still as frequent in recent years despite successive plans to eliminate it. With the 5th interministerial mobilization plan announced on Wednesday, the government hopes to reduce this violence.
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