Many conflicts in life can be the result of a misunderstanding, but this is not the case in the case of sexual abuse, rape and similar acts that offend the personality and leave painful marks on the soul. A great deal seems to disagree with this ideology, however percentage of Finns as they believe that sexual harassment can often be a misunderstood case.
In particular, according to a company survey Yle and taloustutkimus Overall more than half of Finns believe that sexual harassment in many cases is not intentional. The data that come to light also show that many cases of sexual abuse have been recorded in the country, while about half of the women who responded to the survey admitted that they had fallen victim during the last twelve months.
Juho Rahkonen, one of the heads of the research, expressed his surprise after the publication of the results. "One would think that a person who has been attacked like this would be motivated, but research has shown us that this is not the case," he said.
He stressed that the unprecedented results are most likely due to divergent views on what exactly is considered sexual harassment. Age and gender were the two determinants that influenced respondents' answers, the researchers said. According to the data, 46% of women between the ages of 18-24 defined unwanted comments as sexual abuse, while only 15% of men over the age of 50 shared the same view.
Meanwhile, 90% of young women surveyed said that sexual innuendo is also a form of sexual harassment, while 67% of men do not think the same. Defining the concept of the phenomenon becomes more and more complex at older ages. Another interesting fact that the study highlights is that older women are much more tolerant of obscene jokes than younger ones.
A similar study conducted by Yle in the past shows that the majority of women who participated - about 80% - said that at some point in their lives they were sexually abused, usually not just verbally. 66% of men and 78% of women noted that they consider touch to be the most common form of harassment, while the second most common is sexual innuendos and jokes.
The participants in the research were classified according to their level of education and the income they received. Impressive is the fact that of the women who deal with household chores and have a family income of up to 10.000 euros per year, 49% said that they have been harassed in the last 12 months. Only 12% of higher-income women admitted the same.
"The size of the income does not necessarily explain the difference," said Rahkonen, who emphasized that younger women were the biggest target of the perpetrators.
During the survey, participants were also asked if they had ever been in the position of the bully. About 16% of men admitted his act, while the percentage for women is around 4%. In the category of young men aged 25-34, 21% admitted to being a perpetrator while men aged 50-64 admitted the same in 12%.
Nearly half of those surveyed - 53% - said they would make verbal harassment a criminal offense. It is noteworthy that there were differences between the two sexes in their views on the criminalization of sexual harassment. 32% of the 1000 people who have been harassed said that the perpetrators continued to do what they had started even though the victims told them to stop.
Source: HuffPost
