Sixteen per cent of young women have experienced unwanted sex, according to the first report on date rape in Malta. The findings suggest that 'date rape is alive and well in Malta', and expose a vacuum of social services, due to the silence shrouding this crime.
"What stunned me was that few people understand what date rape is, even though the phenomenon is rather persistent in our society," social scientist Frances Camilleri-Cassar told The Sunday Times.
The study also delved into the sexual habits of the women and found that they usually tended to have intercourse from the age of 13, a practice that increased substantially among those aged 16 to 18.
Dr Camilleri-Cassar, together with the University's Institute of Forensic Studies' director Jacqueline Azzopardi, took part in a transnational pioneer study entitled 'Date Rape Cases Among Young Women and the Development of Good Practices for Support and Prevention'.
This project, which involved four other countries - Cyprus, Greece, Latvia and Lithuania - was funded by the European Commission's Daphne II programme and co-ordinated by the Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies at the University of Nicosia, Cyprus.
The local study involved 150 University of Malta women students, aged 18 to 24, who replied to the questionnaire (the majority, 134 students, were aged 18-21); two focus groups with 20 female students each; and, three in-depth interviews with representatives from the police, Aġenzija Appoġġ, and Dar Merħba Bik. The study is a major contribution to understanding the nature of Malta's social policies and the fact that to date no legal structure or policies for support, prevention or protection of date rape victims exist.
The project adopted the definition of the Australian Institute of Criminology on date rape: 'A type of sexual assault, where the victim and the offender are, or have been, in some form of personal social relationship, ranging from a first date to an established relationship.'
It probed the trend of what respondents perceived to be a romantic evening, and the majority seemed to prefer a bar, a restaurant or the cinema. The park or a quiet apartment were also popular venues for a hot date. Behavioural patterns were also studied and the results revealed that while 10.3 per cent said they never touched alcohol on a date, 64 per cent downed between two and six drinks.
"The data also suggest that touching the genital area and oral sex are common occurrences during a date, and well over half the participants have an accommodating attitude with their date," Dr Camilleri-Cassar said.
In view of this accommodating attitude, their male partners tended to criticise them (31 per cent) and ignored their feelings (35 per cent).
The study also looked at unwanted sexual experiences, when the woman made it clear that she did not want to indulge in sexual activity but was forced into it.
Interestingly, 22 per cent were overwhelmed by continual arguments and pressure, 12 per cent said they were afraid their date would break off the relationship, and 16 per cent were afraid to say 'no'.
Only half the women who experienced unwanted sex had told another person about the incident, and most waited six months before confiding in anyone.
Dr Camilleri-Cassar said: "What is worrying is that none of the women sought professional help, and 26 per cent did not know whether their date was high on drugs or not."
The feelings, which emerged from the focus groups, showed that the women had no confidence in the police and felt victims were not treated well.
One of the comments stated: "The police offer no help and do more harm than good. It's not worth the embarrassment."
Dr Camilleri-Cassar pointed to the lack of information and awareness on this crime, where police said, "we have no activities on date rape", and Appoġġ admitted that it didn't offer a service to date rape victims, focusing instead on generic campaigns and talks.
During the interviews, Appoġġ said a rape crisis centre was needed, because victims were 'sometimes degraded by the police and hospital staff'.
"The lack of training for police and social workers tends to conceal a hidden crime and support anti-woman, pro-rape attitudes, especially date rape," Dr Camilleri-Cassar said.
The report's conclusions showed that despite the seriousness of the crime, date rape was an unknown concept among women and higher authorities.
A distinction between a 'date' and a 'relationship' created a greater acceptance of sexual aggression on a date, while the lack of information at school during personal and social development classes postponed a possible solution to the problem.
The report also found that the fact that a co-ordinated approach between police, Appoġġ and relevant NGOs was not yet institutionalised made it harder to implement policies and support services holistically.
Within the next month, two workshops will be held with the relevant stakeholders on the findings of the report and a general conference will follow in Cyprus.