Factors associated with sexual victimization of women and men in Southeast Asia

Transcription

1 Factors associated with sexual victimization of women and men in Southeast Asia Lylla Winzer, PhD 1 Tanya Bovornvattanangkul 2 1 Foreign Expert, Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University 2 Bachelor of Science Student, International College, Mahidol University

2 Research Background Sexual victimization in Southeast Asia Frequency Associated factors Relation to migration

3 Research Background Southeast Asia: Consists of eleven countries (Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) Diverse region, with different traditions, faiths, and political systems Some of these countries have been experiencing a deep economic and social transformation (e.g., urbanization and migration) and others are still recovering from recent conflict or political unrest (e.g., East-Timor, Cambodia, Indonesia and Philippines)

4 Research Background Southeast Asia and Sexual Aggression: Despite this fast transformation, women still face strict gender roles in the region Power disparity between men and women According to the WHO report, 37.7% of women older than the age of 15 years have reported some form of sexual victimization by an intimate partner and/or non-partner in South and East Asia. This region, following Africa, recorded the second highest rate of sexual violence in the world (WHO, 2013). Violence against women is tolerated and justifiable in many places, Rape typically goes unpunished

5 Ecological model for understanding violence Societal Community Relationship Individual Biological and personal history factors ( history of abuse and substance abuse) Marital conflicts, poor interpersonal competence Criminogenic environment, social isolation, poverty Cultural norms that support violence and male dominance

6 Aims of the study Conduct a literature review Investigate the frequency of sexual victimization and its associated factors in countries of Southeast Asia

7 Method Databases MEDLINE via PubMed Scopus PsycINFO Web of Knowledge

8 Method Keywords sexual aggression OR sexual violence OR sexual coercion OR sexual assault OR rape AND Southeast Asia OR country by name (Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam).

9 Method Inclusion criteria: studies that focus on sexual victimization among women and men, disregarding sexual orientation, older than the age of 14 years; studies that include any form of sexual victimization (e.g., from forced sexual contact to penetration) committed by any perpetrator (acquaintance, intimate partner or someone unknown by the victim) under any form of coercive act (e.g., verbal pressure, threat, or physical force).

10 Method Exclusion criteria: if they address perpetration of sexual aggression (rather than victimization), sexual abuse perpetrated by adults (e.g., parents, relatives and teachers) against children or young adolescents (under the age of 15 years) if the rates of sexual victimization were presented in combination with physical victimization, making unfeasible the identification of coercive sex individually.

11 Results 21 studies were identified and obtained Great variation of the sexual victimization rates across countries and populations The lifetime prevalence: 6.6 to 64.6% among women 4.6 to 42.3% among men

12 Results Individual level: Being out of school Drug use Having multiple sex partners Living away from family Sexual orientation Being engaged in sex work

13 Results Relationship level: Having a partner with alcohol problems Being afraid of their partner Being economically independent from the husband Being married to a husband younger than 35 years with less than 9 years of education

14 Results Community level: (due to poverty and lack of opportunities) Being victim of trafficking Prostitution

15 Results Societal level: Existence of political conflict Patriarchal gender norms

16 Figure 1: Factors associated with sexual victimization in Southeast Asia according to the Ecological Model for understanding violence Individual Relationship Community Societal -Being out of school -History of pregnancy -Drug use -Multiple sex partners -Living away from family -Sexual orientation -Being engaged in sex work -Having a partner with alcohol problems -Being afraid of their partner -Being economically independent from the husband -Being married to a husband younger than 35 years with less than 9 years of education (due to poverty and lack of opportunities) - Being victim of trafficking -Prostitution -Patriarchal gender norms -Existence of political conflict

17 Results Limitations of studies on self-reported victimization in SEA: size and representativeness of the samples all studies were cross-sectional: not possible to infer causality and the factors identified should not be treated as predictors potential underreporting: sensitive nature of the subject cultural issues (e.g., religion, gender norms, stigma) recall bias selection bias missing data

18 Results Limitations of studies on self-reported victimization in SEA: factors were also identified in very heterogeneous groups (e.g., students, homosexuals, married women and victims of trafficking) and it is unfeasible to know if variables associated with sexual victimization in one group might also be applied to other groups

19 Results Limitations of studies on self-reported victimization migrants were disregarded by almost all studies (except for the study by Decker et al., 2011 and Kiss et al., 2015): the main barriers to assessing migrants include communication problems, translation, adaptation and validation of instruments used.

20 Limitations of the present review Non- exaustive literature review, focused on peer-reviewed papers, written in English and indexed in four important databases: Unfortunately, this method excludes nonindexed manuscripts or studies published in local languages Cultural specificities of each country in this review were not taken into consideration.

21 Conclusion Data on sexual aggression in Southeast Asia is still very fragmented: limited amount of studies, all studies were cross-sectional and most were based on convenience samples, variables found to be associated with sexual victimization in one sample should not be treated as predictors and may not be generalized to other groups. The present study: Gives an overview of the problem in the region, indicating how pervasive the problem is Points out some factors, whether they are universal or culture-specific, that were related to an increased chance of sexual victimization: those factors are in accordance with the ecological model proposed by WHO for explaining violence helps to identify gaps in the whole body of research, giving direction for future research

22 Suggestions for future research Studies based on a longitudinal design with representative samples, so that changes over time and underlying mechanisms of protective and risk factors can be identified and generalized for the whole population Due to the great flow of migrants in this region, there is an urgent need to assess sexual victimization in migrant samples and identify variables that link migration to higher vulnerability for sexual victimization.

23 Thank you very much for your attention!