Oct. 29 (UPI) — A new study is shining a light on attitudes about rape, sexual harassment and misogyny among male British students after it found that several admitted to such behaviors at more than 100 universities across the country.
The assessment, which was published this week by SAGE Journals, comprised of two different surveys — one which surveyed about 300 students at about 100 British universities and one that polled roughly 250 students at a university in southeastern Britain.
The 27-page report, believed to be the first of its kind, found that 63 of the students said that they’d committed more than 250 sexual assaults, rapes or other aggressive incidents over the past two years.
For the surveys, the students were asked about their views on a range of sexual scenarios and their perception of women and romantic relationships.
The report, titled “Understanding Sexual Aggression in U.K. Male University Students,” links toxic masculinity and sexual violence.
“Results highlighted that one in nine participants (11.4%) self-reported recent sexual aggression,” the report states.
“These participants could be statistically differentiated from their non-offending peers on various established indicators of general sexual offending, of which logistic regression analyses highlighted atypical sexual fantasies, general aggression, hostility toward women and rape myth acceptance as being the most reliable predictors.”
According to the study, many students who confessed to sexual crimes also admitted to holding misogynistic views, such as having fantasies about rape and sexual torture and believing that intoxicated women are responsible if they are assaulted.
According to the research,it’s estimated that about one in five women in universities across developed nations will become targets of sexual violence. It recommends more prevention work on campuses to prevent sexual harm, such as using staffers to work with sexually aggressive students.
“Male sexual aggression is an international public health issue that plagues universities,” the report says.
“Whole-university sexual violence campaigns have shown [great] promise — particularly at reducing rape myth acceptance and increasing awareness of sexual violence among students — and may also offer promising avenues for reducing rates of university-based sexual aggression.”