‘It’s just the tip of the iceberg’

New study reveals shocking attitudes to sexual violence 

Figures from a soon-to-be-released study by the Sexual Violence Centre Cork reveal that a significant number of male students believe that women who claim to have been raped are partly responsible for it. 

The Attitudes to Sexual Violence survey found that up to 50% of male respondents believed that a woman who goes out alone at night or wears provocative clothing puts herself in a position to be raped. 

The news comes amid reports that teenage admissions to Cork’s Sexual Violence Centre have more than doubled in recent years as sexual ‘initiations’ have risen. In 2009 the number of people under the age of 17 who visited the centre stood at 21. Last year however, that number rose to 44, and Director of the Sexual Violence Centre, Mary Crilly told the Cork News that this is “just the tip of the iceberg”, as the figures to do not account for teenagers taken to private clinics or those who refuse counselling. She added that while the figures were representative of those who were raped or sexually assaulted, it did not include other sexual acts, which along with full intercourse, Ms Crilly highlighted, have become more prevalent across Cork. 

“I have sat with girls who say that they are to blame because they have met a guy on a night out and maybe shared a taxi home with him. They would never have thought that they ‘put themselves out in that way’ and are riddled with guilt after the assault. It can destroy people’s lives,” explained Ms Crilly. 

She added that the findings of the survey, which included almost 3,000 participants from across 22 colleges nationwide, were “disappointing but not surprising”. One in seven students believe that each woman should be responsible for preventing her own rape, two in five said that women may claim rape if they have consented to sexual relationships but have changed their minds afterwards and two in seven believed that going home with a man at the end of a date is a woman’s way of communicating to him that she wants to have sex.