Opinions on what can be considered sexual abuse in Italy 2020, by gender

According to a survey conducted at the end of November 2020, there were some behaviors that were considered to be severe forms of sexual abuse by the vast majority of the Italian public opinion. These included: touching (or lightly touching) one's private parts without their consent, sending images of someone engaging in a sexual activity to third parties, and having sexual intercourse with someone who is drunk or under the effect of drugs. Opinions of this kind were shared by men and women alike. The most significant gender-induced difference in the respondents' answers was found in attitudes towards pushing one's partner to engage in sexual intercourse. In fact, 67 percent of the women interviewed regarded this to be a form of severe sexual harassment, while this was true for 58 percent of male respondents. In general, women seemed more inclined to consider certain inappropriate behaviors to be instances of severe sexual abuse.