Hook-up horror as 75 per cent of dating app users report sexual harassment, unsolicited pictures, stalking and sexual abuse – spiking among LGBTI groups
- More than half of Australians using dating apps say they’ve been abused
- Report from Australian Institute of Criminology spoke to 10,000 Aussies
- People aged between 18 and 54 reported overwhelming levels of harassment
- One in three had been subjected to sexual violence after meeting their date
- The level of abuse was highest among LGBTI+ users of dating apps
Three quarters of Australians using dating apps say they’ve been sexually harassed or abused by people they’ve met on the platforms.
The Australian Institute of Criminology released a report on Monday that surveyed 10,000 Aussies aged 18 to 54 who use apps including Hinge, Tinder and Bumble for dating.
The report explored technology-facilitated violence with some respondents revealing they had been sent unsolicited graphic pictures or been secretly filmed while having sex.
Others reported having seen their drinks spiked or being forced to perform sex acts.
The report found the level of such abuse and harassment was at its highest among LGBTI+ users of dating apps.
Three quarters of Australians using dating apps say they have been sexually harassed or abused by people they met online
The report – titled ‘Sexual harassment, aggression and violence victimisation among mobile dating app and website users in Australia’ – found 75 per cent of participants had been victims of online sexual violence from dating apps – through text messages or sharing pictures and videos.
One third of Aussies were found to be victims of in-person, sexual violence committed by someone they met through a dating app.
The most common form on violence was found to be sexual harassment, followed by abusive and threatening language and image based sexual abuse (sharing explicit pictures and non-consensual filming of sex acts).
About 60 per cent of the 10,000 involved in the report reported being victims of multiple forms of abuse as a result of dating apps.
One in three had been subjected to in-person sexual violence after meeting people from online ‘in the real world’.
Of that group, 27 per cent had been sexually assaulted or pressured into performing unwanted sex acts.
The AIC report found the increasing presence of dating apps over the past decade had coincided with rising numbers of sexual harassment and violence.
About 60 per cent of the 10,000 involved in the report reported being victims of multiple forms of abuse as a result of dating apps (stock image)
The group’s deputy director, Dr Rick Brown, said women and LGBTQI+ men and women saw higher levels of abuse.
‘This may reflect the aggressor’s perceived likelihood of victims reporting the behaviours to the online dating platform or police,’ the report stated.
Other results saw people they met off dating apps lie about sexual health and reports of ‘stealthing’ where someone removes a condom secretly without consent.
A shocking 96 per cent of the 10,000 surveyed who reported in-person sexual violence were also victims of online sexual violence.
Half of those people said the abuser had blocked or deleted them after committed the abuse.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk