Five years after #MeToo, one in four men admit they’ve already insisted on having sex

Five years after the media explosion of the #MeToo movement, created in 2007 by African-American activist Tarana Burke, where are the men? If we can think that mentalities have evolved, it is through a survey that Simon Medium, in collaboration with the feminist association En Avant Tous, wanted to inquire. They were interested in the behavior of men, through a study of 1115 people over the age of 18. Therefore, the findings go back to their perceptions of consent, sexist and sexual violence, or even gender inequalities.

Also read: Five years later, is the ‘#MeToo revolution’ just a pipe dream?

Fewer than 1 in 2 men believe #MeToo has had an impact on their behavior

According to this study, fewer than one in two men (45.3%) believe the #MeToo movement has impacted the way they perform in their emotional and sexual relationships. However, almost one in two men (48.7%) have ever doubted that the person he was flirting with or approaching really wanted him, and one in four men (25.4%) insisted on having sex without their partner’s consent.

” After conducting several surveys that highlighted the realities lived by women with respect to sexist and sexual violence, I wanted to allow men to take a position on these issues, many of whom had already expressed to me their feeling that they are all in the same bag “, explains Chloé Thibaud, journalist and author of the newsletterSimon’s breakup in a press release. “The question that underpinned my approach was: are we really the only ones who see the problem?“, he adds.

3/4 of men thought someone close to them was inappropriate with women

We also learn that three quarters of men (75.3%) have already thought that a relative, friend, colleague or acquaintance has behaved inappropriately towards women. Three-quarters of them (77.7%) have also already witnessed it. The survey also reports it 60% of men surveyed said they had already intervened when a man called or insulted a woman. If mentalities seem to change (very) slowly, the concept of consensus is far from certain.