How Russian men perceive gender violence in family and in private life: a case of Karelia The survey of 789 men between ages, based on IMAGES Questionnaire. November-December, 2015 Presented at the seminar in Vardinge (Sweeden), July 2016 SAfE project – Solidarity Action for Equality

Institute on Socio-Economic Studies of population Russian Academy of Sciences Laboratory for Gender Studies Marina Malysheva Marina Parker

Relationships between parents Types of relationships A father or another man towards a mother, % A mother towards a father or another man, % Treated with respect73,976,9 Showed respect only sometimes 13,313,8 There was no respect4,71,9 No answer8,17,4 Totally100 Although the lack of respect between spouses is exceptional, it is over than two times higher among fathers in comparison with mothers.

Witness about violence against mothers In general, 11% of the respondents were observers of physical violence against their mothers.

Types of family violence against men in their childhood Types of violenceHow frequently, % Never Someti mes Often Very often Totally My private parts were touched against my wish/against my will, or I was forced to touch another person's body parts 97,50,90,30,1100 Members of my family insulted and humiliated me in front of strangers 91,15,40,80,1100 My parents or other adult relatives spanked me or slapped my face 81,714,21,00,3100 Mother, father or both parents drank too much or used drugs and therefore did not take care of me 88,05,62,51,0100 I was forced or threatened into having sex 97,60,30,10,4100 At home, I was threatened with physical punishment 66,927,42,50,1100 The most striking result in this table is that 30% of men were threatened with physical punishment at home.

Perception of womens rape by men, Evaluation of womens rape Fully agree Agree Disagre e Fully disagre e Not sure Totall y If a woman was raped, it means that she had behaved frivolously and therefore had gotten in such a situation. 5,719,450,312,711,9100 Sometimes women themselves want to be raped 6,228,336,48,420,8100 If a woman does not offer physical resistance, it cannot be called rape 7,021,839,38,623,3100 Always, if there has been rape, it is a matter of the victim's promiscuity, and her reputation is questionable 0,93,754,025,915,6100 According to the data 21,3% of men fully agree or agree that if a woman was raped, it means that she had behaved frivolously and therefore had gotten in such a situation. In fact this result of the survey means that every fifth man will justify a perpetrator in advance without going into detail of the case. The third part of the respondents (34,5%) fully agree or agree that sometimes women themselves want to be raped.

When a woman does not offer physical resistance to rape The most disputable and uneasy for evaluation are the situations when a woman does not offer physical resistance to rape. Almost quarter of the respondents (23,3%) did not know how to respond to the question related to this cases. The quarter of men (28, 8%) agree or fully agree that if a woman is not struggling against perpetrator this is not rape at all. Thus, more than half of the men (52,1%) do not care that a woman could be harassed, for example that she was forces to sex by boss under pretext that otherwise she will be fired, or that she was severely needy for money to feed her child or cover bills for apartment, or that she was deeply depressed at this moment and was so low that she couldnt make resistance. This list can be followed.

Not sure with the answer The special attention should be drawn to the column not sure with the answer. The fact that pretty much respondents cannot choose clear position in evaluation of different cases of rape is disturbing since it reflects poor understanding of rape as a criminal action per se. The clarification of circumstances may help to measure the extent of perpetration but by no means cannot justify this physical abuse. On the other side, the number of puzzled men reflects exactly the number of those who are not rigid in their judgments and could be influenced by special social policy and actions to form more consent public opinion. In the final end this will make judges more responsible and committed to laws in taking court decisions on rape.

Approval of violence against women by men Relationship to violence Agree, % Partly agree, % Disagr ee, % Totally Sometimes, a woman deserves to be beaten 5,124,270,6100 A woman should tolerate violence to keep the family together 4,215,180,1100

Satisfaction with relationships with a wife/partner Evaluation of relationships with a wife/partner % Very good 34,9 Good 59,9 Not very good 4,6 Bad 0,6 Totally100 Men may admit violence even if they have satisfaction with marriage: in some cases violence against women in a family can be a part of satisfaction with marriage. This goes in line with traditional norms when men assert their dominant role in relationships, usually by controlling their wives everyday life, making final decisions and final say in complicated situations.

Types of physical violence against wives/female partners Frequency, % How oftenNeverOnce More than once Within the past year Totally Have you ever hit your wife/female partner in the face or thrown things at her causing her pain? 83,513,13,00,4100 Have you ever pushed your wife/female partner with force? 74,418,96,20,6100 Have you ever hit your wife/female partner with your fist or an object that could hurt her? 93,23,92,50,3100 Have you ever kicked your wife/female partner, dragged her, beaten her, choked her, or burned any parts of her body? 98,01,30,30,4100 Have you ever threatened your wife/female partner with a firearm, knife or any other weapon? 96,92,10,70,3100

Measurement of violence Due to the selection of cases based on automatic recoding we found out that 26,9% of men (N=212) from the whole sample of the surveyed men (N=789) used violence against women. Then we did the same analysis exclusively among men who had or who have currently a regular female intimate partner (N=710) and we got the figure 29,9%. Thus, violence of men against female regular intimate partners is higher than violence against women in general. We also used indirect question to measure the level of violence against women - among the friends of the respondents. 30,6% of them said that their friends used physical violence against their wife/female partner. Thus the figures which we got from direct question and indirect question are almost the same.

Indirect assessment of violence The high number of the respondents, who could not give definite answer – 16% may mean that they have suspicion about violence in friends families, but they did not get clear evidence of its presence. Family violence is often a hidden phenomenon because perpetrators keep it in secret to avoid any damage to their respectable image, while their wives victims are taught not to discuss on public family conflicts because this is against their role of the hearth keepers.

Would you be able to intervene in case of violence? Type of behavior % Yes, I would be able 59,4 Yes, I have already done so 12,9 I would not be able 7,9 No answer19,8 Totally100 The number of those who could not give definite answer is very high again – it constitutes about the fifth part of the sample – 19,8%. Totally more than a quarter of men (27,7%) are not ready to provide resistance to violence if the perpetrator is their friend.

Different variants of behavior of the respondents in case when a perpetrator is their friend and in case when he is a stranger Types of behavior Your male friend/acquaintance use violence against a woman A male stranger use violence against a woman I would intervene61,654,3 I would talk to him after the incident 20,72,2 I would try to avoid him in future 2,21,4 I would call the police5,329,1 I would do nothing, that's their business 7,68,7 I would ask neighbors to help2,64,2 Totally100 Totally about 90% of men are ready to intervene in case of violence against women, whether perpetrator is a friend or a stranger.

Communication about violence against women In the Karelian sample, only 13% of the respondents talked to their sons about violence against women

Sexual coercion or enforcement of the other women who were not regular partners According to the data, majority of the men did not ever had forced sex – 88,6%. However, 6% confess that they did this within the last year or more than 12 months ago. In cases when a woman or a girl was too drunk to say whether she wanted sex, the situation changes considerably. About 20% of the respondents (19,3) said that they had sex with a drunk woman within either the last year, or more than 12 months ago.

Forced sex with actual female partners/wives and ex-partners/wives Frequency, % How often a girlfriend or your wife into having sex with you? an ex-girlfriend or ex- wife into having sex? Never84,284,7 Once in the last 12 months5,12,0 More than 1 time in the last 12 months 2,00,9 One time, over 12 months ago 2,73,2 More than one time, over 12 months ago 1,31,0 No answer4,78,2 Totally100

How many different women/girls you forced into sex in your lifespan 13,2% of the respondents said that they had violent sex. 8,4% of them forced only one woman 3,6% forced two or three women.

What do you think of women under 18 who engage in prostitution? What do you think of women who engage in prostitution?

What do you think of women under 18 who engage in prostitution? What do you think of women who engage in prostitution?

What do you think of women under 18 who engage in prostitution? What do you think of women who engage in prostitution?

What do you think of women under 18 who engage in prostitution? What do you think of women who engage in prostitution?

What do you think of women under 18 who engage in prostitution? What do you think of women who engage in prostitution?

What do you think of women under 18 who engage in prostitution? What do you think of women who engage in prostitution?

What do you think of women under 18 who engage in prostitution? I believe that it is a crime against these women - 68,0 No -15,7 No answer- 16,3

What do you think of men who buy sex services?

Have you ever had sex with a woman-prostitute

Respondents actions in case they knew that a prostitute or sex worker was forced or sold into prostitution.

Thank you for your attention!