Australian women tolerate men ‘asking for sex’ and ‘wolf-whistling’ more than women from other countries.
Just 26 per cent of Australian women are against men asking for sex at a ‘social event’ according to a study published by Curtin University.
This compares to 100 per cent of women in Egypt, 99 per cent in Indonesia, 97 per cent in Japan and 88 per cent in Portugal.
Australian women don’t mind men asking them for sex at a social venue such as a bar
Buying a drink in the bar was offensive to just 12 per cent of women in Australia, compared to 71 per cent in Indonesian women.
Wolf-whistling was unsuitable according to just 25 per cent of Australian women compared to 98 per cent of Egyptian women.
Egyptian and Italian women in contrast were more accepting of stalking behavior compared to Australians.
Just seven per cent of Italian and six per cent of Egyptian women found ‘visiting places because he knows you may be there’ inappropriate compared to 64 per cent of Australian women.
Buying a drink is popular with Australian women. Only 12 per cent are against this
Co-author Dr Adrian Scott said: ‘These results suggest that culture may take precedence over personal interpretations of the unacceptability of intrusive behaviour that is not obviously harmful or benign in nature.’
Only 23 per cent of Italian women found a man ‘giving or sending you strange parcels’ was a problem, while 74 per cent of Australians were against such activity.
Undergraduate women from Armenia, Australia, England, Egypt, Finland, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Scotland and Trinidad were surveyed by the researchers at the psychology department at the Western Australian University.
Lead author Dr Lorraine Shridan said most female undergraduates across the world agreed on the most inappropriate behaviours, but there was ‘little consensus’ about ‘less explicit actions’.
Women in Egypt, Indonesia, Japan and Portugal do not like being asked for sex at a bar
‘There was no unanimous agreement among the surveyed women from around the world on any of the different behaviours surveyed, even for those relating to forced sexual violence,’ she said.
Forced sexual contact (97 per cent), physically hurting someone you care about (96 per cent) and making death threats (95 per cent) were most frowned upon by women in all 12 countries.
However less than 16 per cent found asking you out just as friends, talking about you to mutual friends after meeting you just once and telephoning you after one initial meeting were unsuitable.