Many Europeans consider rape acceptable

The European Union recently released a report on perceptions of gender-based violence, finding that over a quarter of people across Europe believe rape is justified in certain circumstances. Those circumstances include a woman wearing sexy or revealing clothing, a woman being drunk or on drugs and a woman walking alone at night.

The highest rates of justification for forced sexual intercourse without consent were recorded in Eastern Europe. 55 percent of Romanians believe rape is justified in certain situations, along with 47 percent of Hungarians and 43 percent of Bulgarians. Rates were far lower elsewhere with 6 percent of people in Sweden saying rape is acceptable in certain situations.