Sexual violence in Finland
Victims
Victims
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### Women

The majority of cases of sexual violence is against women. Some groups within society have a greater possibility of becoming a victim of sexual violence, and sexual violence often has different kinds of impact of the lives of the victims from different backgrounds (age and social status also have an effect). However, according to a cross\-cultural
comparison between three regions in Finland, Denmark, Russia, Estonia and the US in 1988 "Scandinavian workers reported fewer women\-unfriendly experiences than the women in the other countries did. According to the researchers this was an effect of the gender equality policy in Scandinavia."

### Children

Of children who have experienced [sexual abuse](/wiki/Sexual_abuse "Sexual abuse") in Finland (2013\), 87\.4 percent were girls and 12\.6 percent were boys.
It is estimated that nine girls and three boys out of 100 are victims of penetrative sexual abuse and 8–31% of girls and 3–17% of boys are exposed to a form of sexual abuse in Europe.

### Men

Most often in the cases of violence where men are the victims, the violence is committed by a stranger (42%). This violence is dominantly physical or threats of violence: sexual violence against men is rare.
Although the risk of becoming a victim of violence committed by strangers is rather high for men, they are not worried about becoming victims of violence when walking alone in their area after dark: less than five percent of men said they felt unsafe.
A study conducted by Markku Heiskanen and Elina Ruuskanen states that the most common form
of sexual harassment experienced by men was indecent passes, touching or
attempts to be kissed against one's will and that 14 percent of the men had such experiences
after their 15th birthday, and almost 5 per cent in the last 12 months. However, according to Berdahl et al. (1996\) in a considerable number of cases of what women would call sexual harassment, men do not consider the act as unwelcome or threatening, and that the consequences are not as damaging for men as they are for women.

### Others

Different documents (for example the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action) have stated that women of ethnic and cultural [minorities](/wiki/Minorities "Minorities") are more likely to become victims of sexual violence. Other factors that are likely to effect the probability of getting sexually offended are social status, possible drug usage, belonging to a sexual or gender minority or being disabled as well as if the person is a victim of [human trafficking](/wiki/Human_trafficking "Human trafficking"). The aforementioned characteristics are also likely to decrease the probability of getting and searching for help if a person does become a victim of a crime of sexual offense.

There has been no sufficient research done on sexual and gender minorities, but a study done in the beginning of 1980 (by Grönfors et al.) about experiences of violence by gay and bisexual persons states that every sixth gay or bisexual male had experienced violence because of their sexual orientation. The corresponding number for lesbian and bisexual women was significantly less.

The risk for immigrants to be sexually offended is almost double compared to that of native Finns, even though 92 percent of the victims of sexual offenses were native Finns. Five percent of the victims are immigrants from elsewhere in Europe, while immigrants with African origins form two percent of the offended. With respect to the native Finns, immigrants from Africa have seven times as high risk to be sexually offended and the immigrants with Vietnamese origins have a risk five times as high as that of natives. Some of this difference in the possibility of being sexually offended is explained by the differences in the age structures of the groups.

[thumb\|center\|700px\|Foreigners in Finland 1990–2005\. The blue line at the top represents the total number of foreigners, and the other lines represent the number of foreigners in Finland by country.](/wiki/File:Ulkomaalaiset_suomessa.png "Ulkomaalaiset suomessa.png")


What is the estimated percentage of girls and boys who experience penetrative sexual abuse in Finland?