Poll examines sexual violence causes, definitions

A new NIDA Poll has shed some light on what modern Thai society believes is sexual violence and what causes it. The poll, conducted by the National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA), asked about what people thought were the major root causes of sexual violence. They also asked whether a variety of scenarios would be considered to fall under that term.

The poll surveyed 1,311 people over the age of 15 between November 10 and 15. Interviews were conducted by phone and thought to speak with people of all different occupations and income levels as well as levels of education. The people were spread out throughout Thailand.

What do you think causes sexual violence?

• 64.15% – Men lacking respect for women
• 50.04% – Men lacking understanding of whether women have given consent
• 47.52% – Women wearing revealing clothes and/or flirting
• 3.51% – Media influence, such as soap operas showing inappropriate behaviours
• 1.53% – Drugs or other intoxicants
• 0.69% – Family upbringing
• 0.53% – A sudden loss of conscience
• 0.46% – Adultery
• 0.08% – The belief that men are superior to women

Considering the implications, the discussion over what constitutes an act of sexual violence saw a spread in beliefs and attitudes in the NIDA poll. People nearly unanimously believed that rape or being forced into sex work qualified. A strong majority considered extortion over nudes or jealously killing a lover to be sexually violent. Triple the amount of people considered shaming women online dressed scantily or an employer sharing dirty jokes or photos to be an act of sexual violence than those who did not.

Similar numbers were found for more serious offences like a male relative molesting a girl, or a husband having non-consensual sex with his wife. Finally, people were fairly evenly split over whether things like online romance scams and spousal adultery could fall under the term sexual violence.