Domestic violence by men 'shocking': survey
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E-mail China Daily, May 10, 2013
The domestic study also tried to find out what shaped men's violent behavior, and it found that the respondents' attitude toward masculinity can be a deep-rooted reason.
Nearly all men and women polled agreed that women should be equal with men. More than 90 percent of respondents said they were opposed to men perpetrating violence against their partners.
However, the survey also reflected wide tolerance of men's privileges.
Some 72 percent of men and 61 percent of women polled said they believe men should have a bigger voice than women in major decisions.
About 73 percent of men and 55 percent women respondents agreed that men should be tough.
Half of men and one-fifth of women supported the idea that men can use violence to defend their reputation.
More than half of respondents felt that men need sex more than women.
"The widely accepted norms about masculinity are a major driving force for the prevalence of domestic violence against women," said Wang, the sociologist.
"It's pointless to talk about the abstract idea of gender equality if we don't eliminate the prejudice that is accepted by individuals, communities and even the whole society," she said.
Unsafe sex prevalent
The research on gender-based violence and masculinity in China also discovered that many men are involved in unsafe sexual behavior.
The results, released on Thursday by the United Nations, revealed that 85 percent of male respondents who had multiple sexual partners said they never used condoms during the previous 12 months before the survey.
The results were based on questionnaire interviews of about 1,000 men in a Chinese county.
During the same period, about one-third of male interviewees had sex with more than one partner, the survey found, while more than one-fifth had engaged in sex with sex workers.
Meanwhile, only 14 percent of women surveyed had ever had an HIV test.
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