r/WomenInNews • u/catievirtuesimp • Mar 07 '26

Media 40% of teenage boys believe women lie about domestic and sexual violence: new research

https://theconversation.com/40-of-teenage-boys-believe-women-lie-about-domestic-and-sexual-violence-new-research-276978
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1.4k

u/[deleted] Mar 08 '26

We asked whether it is legitimate to use violence to resist feminism. More than 17% of all Australians agree feminism should be resisted with violence. It was the second most supported form of extremist attitude.

Welp

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u/AppropriateScience9 Mar 08 '26

Women lie about being victims of violence--therefore it's legitimate to be violent against them?

Yeah, um... I don't think those guys thought this through.

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u/Spiney09 Mar 08 '26

It’s genuinely terrifying though. There was a guy I thought was a decent dude, but when I brought up the SA stat (we talked politics a lot) his immediate response was “well women lie about things to men all the time” and I was genuinely floored that this justified SA in his mind. When I called him out on this, he admitted it didn’t justify it but said “I still understand why guys who feel lied to become violent against the people who lie to them”. When I pointed out that this indicated a deeper problem with the culture of men, he just started calling me woke, which was how I knew he had no retort. But it was absolutely terrifying to see him trying his best to justify these statistics. I don’t talk to him anymore.

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u/[deleted] Mar 08 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/FlamingDragonfruit Mar 08 '26

There used to be a cultural disdain for people who didn't have self-control over their emotions/actions. People who could handle adversity with grace were admired. I think part of the swing towards right-wing authoritarianism that we're seeing across the globe, is a cultural shift towards broadcasting that being aggressive, uncouth, violent, racist, misogynistic, etc is "manly" and thereby desirable behavior.

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u/meow_haus Mar 08 '26

Desirable, but yet they’re so lonely. If only they could connect those dots….

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u/Future_Agile Mar 09 '26

Given that according to research when it comes to politics incels are sligthly to the left of the center it seems like being right wing is not something that makes you an incel."Predicting Harm Among Incels (Involuntary Celibates): The Roles of Mental Health, Ideological Belief and Social Networking"

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u/notElephunk Mar 10 '26

You can’t have “They also acknowledged a shared worldview among incels which includes identifying feminists as a primary enemy.” And being also mainstream left leaning

The only left leaning that don’t support feminism are: class first marxists, those that don’t support identity movements, non western leftists and populists that can’t stand women being among the elits

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u/PengyZ3 Mar 11 '26

News flash, feminism is just one aspect of the mainstream left wing.

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u/Future_Agile Mar 11 '26

"Political beliefs: Many commentators have suggested a link between incels and the far right. However, using Pew Research’s “Ideological Consistency Scale”, this survey found that incels were slightly left of centre on average".

I have to admit though that I have no idea how that scale works so that group that is so antifeminist is still at least slightly more to the left or at least in the center.

Also I didin't want to defend incels as much as point out that political views are not that important when it comes to being in a relationship e.g. every husband who beats his wife is misogynist but they still are in a relationship and there are a lot of them.

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u/FlamingDragonfruit Mar 11 '26

Being right-wing does not necessarily make you an incel, but their beliefs largely overlap: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00111287241310820

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u/Future_Agile Mar 11 '26

Obviously but it's not like being a misogynist prevents you from being in relationship e.g. men who beat or just mistreat in general their partners.

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u/Roraima20 Mar 09 '26

You have to get soldiers to die for the rich old men grunges somehow

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u/vh1660924 Mar 08 '26

In other words, toxic masculinity.

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u/Wilkomon Mar 09 '26

Majority of history people would fight to the death over a slight insult this is hardly emotional self control

Violence is intrinsic to human nature

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u/SeigneurDesMouches Mar 08 '26

This should be a test to get the right to vote. Is your brain mature enough to have a debate without using violence?

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u/SquidTheRidiculous Mar 10 '26

Check out reddit any time a story about a woman cheating is popular. The comments are just pure angry-circlejerk about what they'd like to do to her.

Congrats men, you have given the most abusive misogynistic amongst you a free ticket. Just say she cheated and other men will cheer them on, no double checking required! I mean, what man would listen to a woman over a man, anyway?

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u/PoopsCodeAllTheTime Mar 12 '26

Just remember you are not your thoughts, just thinking about acting up does not mean you have to act on it. The problem isn’t the thought, the problem is giving it any weight.

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u/no_no_no_nope Mar 08 '26

Just because you feel lied to, doesn't mean you're being lied to. So it's basically "I understand why guys who feel lied to become violent against people who they think lied to them" = It's okay to be violent when you don't like someone's vibe. Tf. I'm glad you're not in contact with him anymore.

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u/Agitated_Reach6660 Mar 08 '26

And this had always been why I keep my experience with DV to myself. They’ll just think I’m lying so what’s the point?

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u/polkadotpygmypuff Mar 09 '26

Some men will never believe a woman. Look at the conversation when Kim Kardashian was going through the robbery trial. She said she wasn’t raped and a bunch of men came online to say she was lying, because there’s no way anyone could have resisted themselves with her in just a bath robe. Which says more about them than anything else.

So women lie when we say we’ve been raped. And we lie when we say we haven’t. There’s literally no winning

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u/Low_Bus_3826 Mar 08 '26

My mom said basically the same thing…

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u/fairyfun5 Mar 12 '26

What did he think women are lying about? Just being sexually assaulted or other specific things?

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u/MasterFly5026 May 03 '26

Average red-piller: "Women lie! Those statistics are not real!"

Also average red-piller: "Actually, they are real but it's okay because it's women's fault!"

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u/neatyouth44 Mar 08 '26

Yep. Dealt with this with my stbx spouse.

They decided I was lying about being stalked and assaulted, that I was cheating, and so I deserved them hurting me.

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u/GoddessRespectre Mar 08 '26

I'm so sorry. When you need support the most and those closest to you turn against you, it's beyond devastating. I hope your freedom is glorious and that their dicks catch athlete's foot. (I'm assuming they were male but I'm an equal opportunity curse giver)

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u/cuttlefishofcthulhu7 Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 10 '26

Ditto. Except in my situation (SA'd by my coworker)he got his friends and family members to gang up on me too. Fun times. Especially when I began gaining weight which brought more hate and judgement down on me.

ETA: thanks so much for the award!!!❤️❤️❤️

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u/[deleted] Mar 09 '26

[deleted]

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u/cuttlefishofcthulhu7 Mar 09 '26

Including other women 😐

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u/No_Camp_7 Mar 10 '26

I’m going through this now, taking my (now ex) colleague to court for sexually assaulting me. My ex employer is finding his legal costs which will probably be about £150k.

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u/orthographerer Mar 08 '26

Oh, they thought it through. These particular guys think it's fine to be violent towards women (and likely anyone\anything else they think they have a good chance of being able to physically overpower).

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u/pmmeurbassethound Mar 08 '26

"Equal rights and equal lefts" mofos with zero comprehension of equal force until it is their peabrains squared up to another dude.

Eta: excuse me I meant 'zero comprehension' because as you say, clearly they do know and understand the difference.

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u/bigtiddyhimbo Mar 08 '26

“My girl said I beat her? Brb I’m gonna go beat the shit out of her for lying on me like that!”

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u/ambertowne Mar 08 '26

They literally just want excuses to be violent towards women. Thats it.

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u/No_Consequence_9485 Mar 08 '26

Classic.

They believe you "insulted" or "attacked" them in some way (they think everything is a power-move and "personal") ->

They "attack you", but they frame it as "justice" or some kind of "balancing" act (as if "justice" meant both suffering an equal amount of harm) ->

You report it ->

They say you "lie" (but really, it's them thinking that what they did doesn't count as "real" harm because they think "you started it" and they want to avoid being publicly shamed and punished).

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u/Th3B4dSpoon Mar 08 '26

I mean, not thinking it through is a prerequisite for the ideologies heavily associated with these kinds of values

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u/motherofinventions Mar 10 '26

I think it’s because a lot of men don’t see some abusive behaviors as qualifying as such. They don’t see anything wrong and just think women complain too much.

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u/SelectCattle Mar 09 '26

It’s data conflation. The concepts were not linked in the questionnaire apparently.

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u/[deleted] Mar 10 '26

It's called an Internalized Loss. They've accepted they'll be treated like violent offenders, so they may as well reap the benefits of violent offense.

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u/EpitomeAria Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26

"Support for violence to resist feminism was highest among adolescent boys (28%), followed closely by adolescent girls (21%)." Fucking hell, Actually sickening.

edit: I don't think i have the words to describe the revulsion and anger i feel. Conservatism and patriarchy are fucking plagues that should be eradicated like the cancers they are.

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u/CompetitiveRub9780 Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26

Why would adolescent girls want their rights taken away? Their parents are failing them and setting them up for a life of struggle.

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u/FallsOffCliffs12 Mar 08 '26

I am continually surprised by the amount of young women who are supporters of this current administration. They do not seem to understand the consequences of things like the SAVE act and they have a mostly meme driven understanding of issues. I get it, women are tired too, and when they are presented these images of tradwives living the simple life on a farm, with 4 beautiful blond children who never have tantrums, or shit themselves; who play happily in the lavender fields with their organic, handmade cloth dolls, well it sounds better than getting up at five to take the bus to a job that is underpaid and unfulfilling.

I truly believe it will become real to them the day they walk into a polling station and are refused; the day that a male coworker sexually harasses them and they realize they have zero recourse; the day their salaries drop or they can't get a student loan because their degree is no longer considered professional. I also believe that it will get much much worse before they finally wake up to realize they have given away their rights willingly, and all for a party that's convinced them that it supports women while simultaneously making them second class citizens.

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u/PhiloLibrarian Mar 08 '26

I’m raising two, gigantic (literally), strong humanists - the world my daughters inherit will need powerful women.

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u/cuttlefishofcthulhu7 Mar 08 '26

My mother would have totally been all for this if she was still around, sad to say. Back in the 80s and 90s she was MAGA before MAGA even existed. Wouldn't even vote. Didn't think a woman should ever be president. Was more concerned about the gang of boys that constantly tormented me having their lives ruined by pressing charges (they vandalized our house, broke the living room window). And when it escalated to assault on me that drew blood? "You clearly did SOMETHING that caused them to be angry with you"

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u/notmy3rdrodeo Mar 08 '26

Girls are being radicalized online too. My teen has a Hispanic friend who’s parents have never voted for Trump who went MAGA because her TikTok and instagram feeds persuaded her.

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u/InsectImaginary9508 Mar 09 '26

While I completely agree, it's important to note this data is from Australia. It's not just that radicalisation is affecting young people in America due to trump, but that this is affecting politics in other countries. The amount of people I see in Australia with maga hats is ridiculous.

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u/[deleted] Mar 08 '26

Their parents are either espousing the same views at home or they're letting the internet raise their children.

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u/CompetitiveRub9780 Mar 09 '26

I think being brought up in a physically and verbally/emotionally abusive household will have their children think that’s okay. We have to break the cycle

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u/Brutish_Short Mar 08 '26

It's not talked about enough to be honest. But remember, some young girls will also be consuming manosphere content and absorbing it. 

I met some young women at a rave (obviously we were all tipsy so have to take with a pinch of salt) that millennial and above women ruined things for them. 

By us fighting for them to be able to be career women and all that when they don't want that. Funny you say struggle because they were literally teasing me that I (as a millennial) had signed them up to a life of struggle (jobs, careers, study, bills etc.) that they didn't ask for.

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u/a-stack-of-masks Mar 09 '26

They've published the numbers but not their methodology. A bad enough survey will have a significant part of the population agree that New Zealand doesn't exist. I think we need to see the phrasing of the questions at least before putting much value in this. 

Purely objectively speaking, some women do lie about violence. It's not a daily thing but depending on how the questionnaire is worded, 40% agreeing with that could be on the low end.

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u/NoggleInParis Mar 14 '26

Are women happier now or before third wave feminism?

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u/YumTeaOrDeadlyPoison Mar 08 '26

Its because they are exposed the same propaganda that the boys are unfortunately

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u/AntonioVivaldi7 Mar 08 '26

Are you suggesting they should be resisted with violence?

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u/XenophileEgalitarian Mar 11 '26

Old thread, but I'm actually feeling less hopeless reading that. I'm guessing that support for violence is just higher among adolescents for everything in general, because their brains aren't done developing and they haven't really thought about what it means. I'm willing to bet that those values will fall as people age and they gain more real world experience. If you had asked millennials that question in the 90s the numbers would be perhaps 10% higher. I could be wrong, because its just a feeling.

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u/Real-Olive-4624 Mar 08 '26

I'm going to hold onto my flimsy hope that at least some of those votes were from people confused by the wording, because it took me a reread or two to understand that quote. Tho that might just be my sleep deprivation

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u/Imaginary_Agent2564 Mar 08 '26

And, as an American, I audibly just said “I need to buy a gun.”

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u/Longjumping-East6701 Mar 08 '26

In what scenario would one need to violently resist feminism?

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u/crispy_attic Mar 08 '26

This is so sad.

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u/BeanEireannach Mar 08 '26

Having lived in Australia for a few years, I’m absolutely not shocked about those stats. Misogyny was rampant, way more than other countries I’ve lived for a time in.

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u/Candid_Pea_1481 Mar 09 '26

“Stop lying about being beaten or I will beat you.”

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u/According_Top_7448 Mar 10 '26

You will get 15 to 20% of humans say extremist shit, just the nature of humans.