Amsterdam - Some 12 per cent of women and 3 per cent of men in the Netherlands have been raped, according to a report released on Tuesday. The 2009 annual sexual health report of the Rutgers Nisso Groep said a total of one third of all women and one in 20 men have experienced some form of sexual violence - ranging from the mildest form of assault to rape - at least once.
Some 6,000 people between the ages of 15 and 70 participated in the study, carried out for the group, which runs a centre for sexual health in Utrecht.
One in five women has experienced sexual violence before the age of 16, according to the study. The figure for men was one in 25. In most cases - 98 per cent - the violence originates from a man, the women victims said.
Male victims said the violence was performed by other men in 60 per cent of cases, with women responsible for the remaining 40 per cent of the sexual violence directed towards men.
One out of 6 women say they have experience an unwanted pregnancy, with one in 10 men saying their partners had had one.
Almost eight per cent of women had had at least one abortion.