Singapore, August 22, 2026 – In the past few months, our nation is reckoning with the prevalence of sexual harassment and victim-blaming attitudes in our midst. Multiple women have posted videos of them being allegedly sexually harassed by men in Singapore, which went viral. These videos were quickly followed by a high volume of victim-blaming comments.

High victim-blaming sentiment among netizens align with research by gender-equality group AWARE — 55-percent of our local male survey respondents believe that a woman who dresses provocatively is partly to blame if she is harassed. 67-percent believe a woman who flirts bears at least some responsibility for what “follows”.

These statistics are one in many areas of masculinities that AWARE investigated in their newly published Survey on Men’s Attitudes to Gender, Family and Society, done in collaboration with YouGov. The qualitative report, which surveyed over 1,000 men in Singapore from various demographics, assessed their attitudes about emotional suppression, victim-blaming, sexual entitlement, and family caregiving responsibilities.

“From the late-19th century to now, women are experiencing mass feminist liberation. Men have not yet had that moment,” said Ms Lim Shoon Yin (Shoon Lim), Executive Director of AWARE. “Men are stuck with the expectations of a much more patriarchal era.”

“The first step toward liberation from these gender expectations, is to acknowledge the prevalence of unhealthy attitudes that men have toward women and themselves, which this exploratory report intends to support. This is the path toward achieving gender equality, for women, men, and all.”

Around one third of our male respondents held sexually entitled attitudes. 37-percent of  respondents believe men cannot be expected to stop sexual activity if a partner changes her mind. More than 33-percent believe men “cannot control themselves” when sexually aroused. Married men in low and high income brackets showed greater likelihood of having such beliefs.

Unhealthy masculinities do more than sexualise and degrade women — they also demand men to suppress their emotions. Around 70-percent of respondents admitted they hide emotions such as sadness, fear, anxiety or stress; while over 50-percent believe that showing emotion makes them appear weak. Younger and less educated men were more likely to fall into these categories.

Interestingly, men across demographics seem to agree that family responsibilities and household roles should be shared equally. 78-percent of all respondents say that childcare should be shared between men and women; and 74-percent say that housework should also be equally shared. While there is overwhelming egalitarian sentiment, the survey did not explore if this truly occurs within Singaporean households.

To combat harmful narratives of masculinity, the report delineates several key recommendations to effect changes to policies impacting education, workplace and community support, family and the media. It concludes by highlighting areas of future examination which would be crucial to inform progress away from patriarchy and towards a gender equal society.

View the full report here.
View answers to each survey question here.

If you have further questions, please email media@aware.org.sg