Survey 2004...

Incest in Québec: 83% of Québécois are willing to discuss it openly

A CROP/FMV survey indicates that Québécois’ attitude towards incest has changed significantly with regard to their willingness to discuss it openly and in terms of the knowledge acquired on the subject. In fact, 83% of Québécois admit not finding incest too delicate a subject to discuss openly, 72% find people who discuss their assaults in the media “daring and courageous” and 81% consider publicly admitting to having been a child sexual assault victim helps promote social change. In this sense, we observe that people are clearly open to include incest as a topic for discussion in public forums, in the same right as domestic violence, sexual orientation or youth suicide.

• It is estimated that on average, 44% of Québécois have been subjected to child sexual assault.
• 85% of respondents rightly believe that child sexual assault is more likely to involve loved ones than strangers.
• 56% of respondents say they are angry when they hear about incest in the media.
• Respondents are more angered by the actions of the assailants (74%) than by sensationalist media coverage (18%).
• 68% of respondents indicate that if they were sexually assaulted by a family member, they would not hesitate to report it.
• Overall, the attitude of openness and the degree of knowledge increase with education and are more wide-spread among Francophones than Anglophones and Allophones.