90% of Russians consider manhandling to be a form of domestic abuse
90% of Russians consider manhandling to be a form of domestic abuse: VK Dobro and KION survey
12.04.2024
Published on the ASI website
Article published on the ASI website
The survey involved 2,000 men and women between 18 and 55 years of age. Women mentioned other forms of violence more often than men.
Analysts at the online cinema KION and the VK Dobro charity service conducted a survey to find out how much Russians know about domestic violence and how they feel cinema and television deal with the subject. The research was timed to coincide with the start of the new season of Valeriya Gai Germanica’s Mutual Consent television series.
Domestic abuse in real life
According to the study, 30% of respondents have experienced domestic violence and 40% are aware of such cases among their friends. Women have been affected more often than men – 35% and 26% respectively. Women also hear of abuse more frequently from their friends – 44% versus 35%.
In 90% of instances, participants in the survey considered manhandling to be a form of abuse. Psychological, sexual and economic forms of violence were mentioned less often. Women referred to them more often.
The study showed that women are twice as likely to believe that victims of domestic violence are never to blame for what has happened to them – 32% compared to 14% of men. In addition, 95% of respondents say that victims should seek help from a range of different sources, i.e.
- Law enforcement agencies – 78%
- Family and friends – 52%
- Charities – 39%
- Society – 22%
Five per cent of those who think it is wrong to seek help in the event of abuse believe that:
- It should stay within the family – 61%
- It is not safe – 22%
- Victims wouldn’t be believed anyway – 19%
Domestic violence in films and television
Around a quarter of all respondents said they were interested in or regularly watched films and television programmes that contain scenes of domestic violence.
The remainder don’t watch films or television series that have such content. Men who avoid watching said it didn’t interest them, while women believed it had an adverse effect on mental health.
60% of participants believed that watching such violent content could affect people’s attitudes and lead to increased levels of aggression, while 90% said it should be used as a means of educating people.
Men believed that the content should be used to portray moral values and not to romanticise villains, to integrate decent standards of behaviour into the plot and to emphasise that evil must be punished. Women talk about developing special projects and websites to help victims, as well as including hotline numbers in cinema and television credits.
The full study can be found on https://kion.dobro.mail.ru. It also contains advice from expert psychologists for those who find themselves in difficult life situations and includes contact details for specialist CSOs where help is available.
