Men’s and women’s perceptions of interaction between the sexes almost equal

© ANP / Sabine Joosten
The majority of women and men aged 16 years and over see clear boundaries with respect to interaction between the sexes. Most people agree that ‘no means no’ when it comes to unwanted sexual advances towards women. They also agree that it is a good thing when women refuse to put up with unsolicited sexual comments from men. However, women are more likely than men to report having experienced unwanted sexual behaviour. This is reported by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) on the basis of the Emancipation Monitor and the Prevalence Monitor on Domestic Violence and Sexually Transgressive Behaviour.
In 2024, nearly all women (95 percent) and men (94 percent) aged 16 or older indicated that when a woman says ‘no’ to sexual advances, she really means ‘no’. Nearly 90 percent of respondents agreed that it is a good thing when women do not put up with unsolicited sexual comments from men. The majority of respondents also felt that society has turned a blind eye to the sexual harassment of women for too long. Women were more likely to say this than men, however: 78 percent versus 68 percent. Men were more likely to say that women are too quick to interpret men’s behaviour as sexual harassment: 39 percent, compared to 29 percent of women.


Men were less likely to think that ‘no means no’ than women in 2018

In 2018, the majority of people aged 16 years and over also indicated that ‘no means no’ when it comes to unwanted sexual advances towards women. However, fewer men (88 percent) than women (93 percent) believed this. At that time, men (22 percent) were more likely than women (17 percent) to see whistling in the street as a compliment to a woman; in 2024, the percentage of men and women believing this was equal.

Younger women feel society has ignored harassment for too long

Women were more likely than men to feel that society has turned a blind eye to the sexual harassment of women for too long. This difference in attitudes between the sexes was the largest among people aged 16 to 34: 84 percent of women thought this compared to 66 percent of men. In this age group, men were more likely to feel that women are too quick to perceive behaviour as sexual harassment (33 percent of men and 20 percent of women). On the other hand, among those aged 16 to 34, women were more likely than men to feel that men often get what they want in sexual relationships. Among those aged 35 years and over, both men and women have more or less the same opinion on this.


Women are twice as likely to be victims of sexually transgressive behaviour

Twelve percent of those aged 16 years or older said that they had been victims of sexually transgressive behaviour in 2024. That includes offline sexual harassment, online sexual harassment and/or physical sexual violence in the twelve months prior to the survey. Women were twice as likely as men to report having experienced this, and the perpetrator was more likely to be a man. Particularly young women aged below 24 were victims of sexually transgressive behaviour.

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