Thai minors claim sexual harassment - Bangkok Post

(TNA) - Nearly half the children of metropolitan Bangkok and outlying areas between the ages of 11 and 14 were sexually harassed or abused, according to the latest survey by the Assumption University Poll Research Centre (ABAC Poll).

Interviewing young men and women between ages 15 and 24, ABAC this week learned that two-thirds of the women and nearly one-third of the men said they were harassed or abused when they were children.

Conducted May 24-30 with 3,139 respondents aged 15-24 in Bangkok and its three surrounding provinces - Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani and Samut Prakan, the current poll found that 2 out of 3 - 66.2 per cent of girls experienced sexual harassment, both verbal and physical, including both rape and attempted rape.

Girls were twice as likely to be subjected to sexual advances as boys, according to the poll.

Some 26.1 per cent of the young men interviewed claimed they were sexually abused in the past.

According to the poll, both girls and boys were abused as minors, between the ages of 11-14, before any commonly understood 'age of consent'.

The poll respondents said that many factors triggered sexual harassment against Thai minors.

Heading the list is 'a society in moral decline' which 59.2 per cent of respondents said needed to be urgently addressed.

Some 57.4 per cent of the respondents attributed the sexual harassment to pornographic CDs and movies, 53.6 percent blamed the light penalties imposed against offenders, 51.8 said seductive clothing of actors, actresses and singers were to blame, and 49.3 said alcoholic drinks were the among major causes.

According to the poll, sexually-abused youngsters rarely lodged complaints against their offenders.

Regarding condom usage, the survey found that the numbers of Thai youth using condoms every time they have sex this year has risen to 27.0 per cent compared with 19.7 per cent last year, while the number of those using condoms "sometimes" when having sex has declined to 44.9 this year from 50.4 per cent last year, and the number of those who say they never use condoms at all has decreased to 28.1 per cent this year from 29.9 last year.

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