The poll of 17,500 people also found one in six people support the notion that when women say no to sex, they mean yes.

VicHealth chief executive Jerril Rechter said the results were "shocking" and showed there was still a lot of work to do when it comes to changing people's attitudes.

The survey also found most people believed violence was caused by men unable to control their anger and almost half believed men committed rape because they were unable to "control their need for sex".

Do you agree?