A "concerning number of Australians" hold outdated and harmful views about gender equality and violence against women, a government-sponsored survey involving 17,500 Australians has found.
One in five Australians surveyed by Australia's National Research Organisation for Women's Safety (ANROWS) believe "sometimes a woman can make a man so angry he hits her when he didn't mean to".
Anastasia Powell, associate professor in criminology at RMIT University, was a lead researcher in the survey, which found one in three Australians believe rape results from men "not being able to control" their need for sex.
"This sort of attitude suggests that men can't help themselves but have a need for sex, and these sort of attitudes are really problematic and make excuses for men's use of sexual violence," Powell told BuzzFeed News.
"They also completely disregard what the law in this country is — that you have to have ongoing active consent to sex and anything else is sexual assault.
"There are a range of different motivations and underlying causes for sexual violence and in some cases it is planned and offenders target, seek to target or make vulnerable a victim for sexual violence."
One in three people surveyed believe that in many instances women reported rape after they had "led a man on" and "had regrets", Powell said.
"Some of the really concerning findings are around false reports and we found that two in five Australians believe women make up false reports of sexual assault in order to punish men," she said.
"In fact we know that false reports are incredibly rare and research suggest they make up less than 5% of reports and nine out of 10 victims of sexual assault don't report it to police at all."
A fifth of respondents agreed with the statement "what is called domestic violence is really a normal reaction to day-to-day stress and frustration", while 32% believe that a female victim who does not leave an abusive partner is partly responsible for the abuse continuing.
Powell said attitudes which "disregarded sexual assault and domestic violence" were directly linked to certain views around gender roles in relationships.
"We know Australians who endorse rigid gender roles that women shouldn't be the ones who initiate sex, and that men should take control in relationships; those sorts of attitudes are directly linked with attitudes that support violence and disregard consent," she said.
"The good news is that there is an improvement in general in Australians' understanding of the nature of violence against women, and most Australians do not support domestic violence, sexual harassment or sexual assault."
If you or someone you know is experiencing violence and needs help or support, there are national and state-based agencies that can assist you 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Call 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732).