In Germany, a third of men find violence against women ‘acceptable’: study

In a new survey, the data collected revealed that a third of young men in Germany believe that using violence against women is acceptable. The study led to outrage among gender equality campaigners.

Children’s charity Plan International Germany had commissioned the survey and the regional newspaper Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung had published its findings.

In the study, which was carried out online, a group of 1,000 men and 1,000 women between the age of 18 to 35 from across the country were asked to submit their views on masculinity.

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Violence to ‘instil respect’ in women, say men

In the study, 34 per cent of men accepted using violence against their female partner in the past years to “instil respect in them”. Meanwhile, 33 per cent said that they found it acceptable if their “hand slipped” occasionally during an argument with their female partners.

The study, which explored attitudes ranging from victim-blaming and double standards, found that 50 per cent of men stated they would not like to be in a relationship with a woman who previously had many sexual partners, while 20 per cent of the women in the survey also agreed with this fact.

The survey also stated that there was difference in the expectations of men and women within a relationship.

More than half of men – around 52 per cent – looking for a relationship in the form of a “breadwinner-housewife model,” where most of the money for the household was earned by them and household tasks as well as childcare were primarily the woman’s role.

More than two-thirds of the women disagreed with these views in the survey and said that they wanted equal partnerships and shared decision-making.

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Less than half of respondents – 48 per cent– said that they disliked public displays of homosexuality, adding that they felt “disturbed” by it.

Taking to Twitter, the German group Federal Organisation for Equality said that the findings were “shocking.”

It added, “According to a survey by Plan International Germany, every third young man finds violence against women ‘acceptable’. This urgently needs to change!”

Karsten Kassner from Federal Forum Men, an organisation which stands for gender equality, called for change and said, “It’s problematic that a third of the surveyed men trivialize physical violence against women.”

As per data collected by Germany’s Federal Criminal Police (BKA), 115,000 women in the country have been victims of domestic violence in 2021.