Sexual violence
March 1, 2017
What are the issues?
- Sexual violence of all kinds is a reality in Singapore, but overwhelmingly underreported. In a survey run in 2015, we found that 1 in 3 young people in Singapore have faced some form of sexual violence.
- Stigma, rape myths and victim-blaming attitudes towards survivors are still prevalent, affecting survivors’ experiences when they seek help, whether from friends and family, organisations like schools and employers, or the criminal justice system. Only 3 in 10 sexual violence survivors at our Sexual Assault Care Centre end up filing official reports about their experiences. Many people still harbour misconceptions such as “men cannot be sexually assaulted” and “if a girl wears skimpy clothes, she is asking for it”.
- Lack of formal, comprehensive sexuality and consent education means that young people grow up in an environment that does not have open conversations about sex, sexuality, consent, healthy relationships and sexual violence. In a 2020 survey conducted with Blackbox, we found that only half of parents felt comfortable talking to their kids about sexual health, intimate relationships and sex.
- Workplace sexual harassment continues to create hostile working environments for women. In 2021, an AWARE-Ipsos survey found that 2 in 5 workers in Singapore had experienced some form of workplace sexual harassment in the preceding five years. A subsequent qualitative research report, entitled “I Quit”, found that the career and financial repercussions of workplace sexual harassment include job loss, low productivity, time out of work and loss of income for its victims. Although Singapore has issued best practice guidelines for employers to address workplace harassment, not all companies have implemented them.
- Technology-facilitated sexual violence is a growing problem, encompassing such behaviours as cyber-harassment, online sexual voyeurism, non-consensual distribution of explicit images and more. The proportion of TFSV cases seen at SACC increases year on year.
- Legal options like protection orders to stop harassment is expensive, and many are discouraged from reporting harassment.
What changes do we want to see?
- Better public understanding of sexual violence and consent through public education, at educational institutions, at workplaces, by state authorities like the police, and in the media.
- Improved reporting processes for survivors of sexual assault who often face daunting and lengthy police and court processes.
- More systematic public data about the reality of sexual violence. As sexual assault is under-reported all over the world, rising numbers are usually a positive sign – it does not mean that instances of crime are up, but rather that there is more knowledge of support services, like SACC.
- Legal reform to update and rationalise sexual assault laws, including the codification of case law into a clear and comprehensive statutory definition of “consent”.
- Responsible media reporting of sexual violence, with non-judgmental content that does not sensationalise or trivialise sexual assault.
- Concerted and comprehensive efforts to address sexual harassment, including making employers responsible for preventing workplace harassment.
What are we doing about it?
- Running the Sexual Assault Care Centre (SACC), Singapore’s first and only known specialised care service centre for survivors of sexual violence, to provide safe, free and confidential services for survivors
- Conducting sexuality education and first-responder educational workshops with educational institutions, community groups and workplaces, through SACC and the (now retired) Aim for Zero and We Can! campaigns.
- Lent support to the creation of Solid Ground, a website that guides users through various steps they can take if they experience nine common types of online harassment.
- Offering interactive workshops for employers to implement effective workplace harassment policies via our corporate training arm, Catalyse.
- Collaborating with the police wherever possible to supplement police officers’ understanding of how victims feel, why victims speak or behave as they do, and how police and other first responders can have an impact on them.
- Regular advocacy and communications bringing attention to prevalence and forms of sexual assault in Singapore, debunking common myths and offering resources for survivors’ support.