The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released a new analysis of Personal Safety Survey (PSS) data, exploring experiences of sexual harassment in Australia in further detail.
According to the 2016 PSS, an estimated 5 million women (53 per cent) and 2.2 million men (25 per cent) aged 18 years and over have experienced at least one incident of sexual harassment in their lifetime.
Will Milne, ABS Director of the National Centre for Crime and Justice Statistics said: “The most common sexual harassment behaviour that women experienced was inappropriate comments about their body or sex life (33 per cent or 3.1 million women) followed by unwanted touching (30 per cent or 2.8 million women).”
“For men, it was unwanted touching (13 per cent or 1.1 million men).”
The new analysis found women and men who had experienced sexual harassment in their lifetime were more likely to have also experienced sexual assault.
Further results from the new analysis are presented in the article Sexual Harassment, available on the ABS website. It is the second article in a series exploring the prevalence and characteristics of sexual violence in Australia. The first article, Sexual Violence – Victimisation, was released in August, and the third and final article, Sexual Assault – Perpetrators, will be released in February 2022.
Results from the 2016 Personal Safety Survey are available at Personal Safety, Australia.
If you or anyone you know is in need or crisis please call the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732), the South Australian Domestic Violence Crisis Line on 1800 800 098 or Lifeline 131 114.