The Federal Centre for Health Education’s (BZgA) representative study Youth Sexuality 9th Iteration is a representative repeat survey. A large-scale survey of young people, their parents and young adults was launched for the ninth time in the summer of 2019. It follows on from predecessor studies conducted between 1980 and 2014. The goal of the study is to acquire reliable data about the attitudes and behaviours of young people in the Federal Republic of Germany with regards to sexuality and contraception.
The subject area of sexualised violence has been captured since 2001 and has been expanded significantly in the current trend survey on Youth Sexuality. The current survey was the first time the examination of negative experiences was expanded further in order to capture non-physical experiences of violence – a broad field that encompasses verbal and non-verbal harassment, from derogatory insults to sexually motivated reputational damage, exhibitionism and also experiences of violence communicated digitally. Furthermore, the respondents were asked in substantially greater detail about their experiences of physical sexualised violence. This fact sheet presents, which experiences adolescents and young adults have had with non-physical and physical sexualised violence.
Results: An Overview
- More than half of the adolescents and young adult have experienced non-physical sexualised violence at least once.
- Central risk factors for physical sexualised violence are: sex, age, sexual activity and sexual orientation.
- Young women are generally still minors when they experience physical sexualised violence for the first time.
- In three in five cases sexualised acts of violence are perpetrated against girls and young women despite resistance.
- Girls and young women experience sexualised violence especially from male perpetrators – boys and young men experience it from both sexes.
- The probability of being able to fend off sexualised violence is higher if the perpetrator is not known.