Advertisement
Sexual harassment and assault
This Week in AsiaOpinion
Lynn Lee
Lynn Lee

As I see it | Even with #MeToo, survivors struggle to speak up about sexual assault

  • In societies such as Hong Kong, with strong and effective law enforcement, victim-blaming and fear of second trauma result in women staying silent
  • A Singapore parliament debate this week has also illuminated the problem of unhelpful societal attitudes

Reading Time:4 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
A sexual crisis violence centre in Hong Kong found that about 53 per cent of those who sought help for sexual violence did so within a month of the offence, while the rest waited. Photo: Shutterstock
Lynn Lee
In societies with strong and effective law enforcement, and where the #MeToo movement has empowered female survivors of sexual assault, it’s sad that some are choosing not to speak up.
Advertisement

In Hong Kong, victim-blaming and fear of “second trauma” are among the key reasons women stay silent forever or delay seeking help from NGOs and the police. RainLily, Hong Kong’s first sexual violence crisis centre, found that between 2000 and 2018, about 53 per cent of those who sought help for sexual violence did so within a month of the offence. The rest waited, with some only reporting the incident up to five years later.

This happens despite Hong Kong’s police force demonstrating a strong record of solving serious sexual offences. A paper presented to the Legislative Council last year said sex crime figures were widely believed to be under-reported as “victims are generally too ‘ashamed’ to report such offences”.

But for serious sexual offences such as cases of rape investigated between 2009 and 2019, 92 per cent were “detected” or solved, with the same taking place for 77 per cent of indecent assault cases. Both were much higher than the detection rate of 37 per cent for crimes overall.

In Singapore, Shailey Hingorani, head of research and advocacy at women’s group Aware, said seven out of 10 clients at its sexual assault care centre did not end up making a formal report. Among the reasons, she said in a commentary for the Today newspaper in January, were “unhelpful societal attitudes that ‘blame the victim’” and “seemingly innocent questions from well-meaning friends and family such as ‘What were you wearing?’ or ‘Why did you go out so late?’”.

Hingorani’s comments on unhelpful societal attitudes came to mind this week as Singapore’s parliamentarians debated a private member’s motion on affirming gender equality.

Advertisement