Study: Most aggression in bars targeted at women not men

TORONTO, March 4 (UPI) -- Recent data looking at aggression in Canadian bars found 90 percent involved male initiators and female targets, researchers said.

Kate Graham, a senior scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health at the University of Toronto, and Jeanette Norris, a senior research scientist with the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute at the University of Washington, and colleagues conducted a study of bar-goers in Windsor, Ontario, across the river from Detroit.

They asked questions about two common forms of sexual aggression observed -- unwanted sexual contact and unwanted persistence -- when they were leaving the bar district.

Aggression in bars is often considered to be primarily male-to-male aggression, but Graham and Norris found women were the targets of aggression.

"More than 50 percent of women reported experiencing one or both types of sexual aggression on the evening of the exit survey," Graham said in a statement.

Graham and Norris noted the unique environment women might find within a bar scene and conducted a follow-up study.

They collected data on 1,057 incidents of aggression observed during 1,334 visits to 118 large-capacity bars/clubs holding more than 300 people in Toronto during the years 2000 to 2002.

"I don't think you could get away with this sort of thing in most settings," Graham said. "If a stranger came up to a woman, grabbed her around the waist, and rubbed his groin against her in a university cafeteria or on a subway, she'd probably call the police. In the bar, the woman just tries to get away from him."

Norris concurred. "Bar-based aggression is almost certainly more likely to involve people who do not know each other very well or at all," she said.

"This could have at least two consequences. First, perpetrators might be more likely to depersonalize and dehumanize the targeted woman," Norris said. "Second, it might lead perpetrators to feel more 'protected,' that is, to believe they are less likely to suffer any consequences for their actions."

The researchers observed bar staff rarely intervened, suggesting this is normative and generally accepted behavior in bars.

"Attacking women who are defenseless makes it less likely that a perpetrator will be apprehended or experience any consequences as a result of his actions. These men are the ultimate opportunists. What might also come into play are negative stereotypes about women who drink," Norris said.

"Other research has shown that women who drink are often seen as more sexually available than women who do not drink. They may also be seen in generally negative or derogatory ways -- as sluts, unfeminine, or generally not worthy of respect -- which may provide an excuse for attacking women sexually."

The findings were published online in the May issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research's Early View.