Students’ experiences of gender-based harassment and violence, and attitudes towards professional boundaries with staff at a UK university
‘Is This Normal?‘ reports on a survey of gender-based violence and harassment and students’ attitudes towards professional boundaries with staff at a UK university.
This study is the outcome of a partnership between the Students’ Union and academic staff at an anonymised university in England. It was carried out to build a picture of the gender-based violence and harassment that students were experiencing at the university in order to make the case for investing in prevention and response work, and to understand how best to target such work.
The survey was sent to all students enrolled at the University in November-December 2020 via email from their Students’ Union Welfare Officer.
Key findings
- Sexual or gender harassment, such as receiving offensive sexist remarks or being treated differently due to gender, had been experienced by 55% of respondents since enrolling at the University.
- 30% of respondents had been subjected to sexual violence, including rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault, since enrolling at the University.
- Stalking behaviours, such as receiving unwanted messages via email, instant messenger or on social media or being watched, followed, or spied upon, were experienced by 16% of respondents.
- 26% of survey respondents had been subjected to ‘dating violence’, such as being pushed, grabbed or shook, or being scared of someone they were in a relationship with. 11% of respondents had had at least one experience of being pushed, grabbed or shaken by someone they’d been in a relationship with during their time at the University.
Across all of these categories, women students were more likely to experience them than men, and also more likely to have experienced them multiple times. For example:
- Women reported two times more incidents of dating violence than men, and they also experienced harassment more often than men.
Most of these behaviours were carried out by other students at the University…
83% of sexual and gender harassment was carried out by another student studying at the University. Similarly, other students at the University were named as the person who carried out 82% of reported sexual violence incidents, 70% of all stalking victimisation and 65% of dating violence incidents reported.
… and most of these behaviours were carried out by men
When asked to describe who carried out the behaviour for the most serious incident they experienced, men were named by 82% of those who experienced sexual harassment, 89% of those who were subjected to stalking, 79% of dating violence and 85% of sexual violence.
While most of these behaviours occurred off campus, there was still a relatively large amount occurring on campus. These behaviours tended to come from people who were acquaintances or friends of the person victimised, rather than strangers.
We also asked about students’ attitudes towards ‘rape myths’.
Rape myths are inaccurate assumptions about rape that deny, downplay or justify sexual violence.
The majority of students did not believe rape myths. However, some students did agree with some of the rape myths put forward, and there were also a large minority of students who were unsure whether they agreed with some of the statements. This finding shows that awareness-raising work is urgently needed among students in the UK.
For example, a number of items showed a concerning lack of understanding around consent and what rape is under the law. For example, 19% of respondents were unsure about, or agreed with the statement that “it can’t be rape if both parties are drunk”. In fact, the legal definition of consent for sexual activity very clearly states that someone must agree by choice, and have “the freedom and capacity to make that choice”.
Between a quarter and a third of respondents agreed with or were unsure with statements relating to the idea that men commit rape because they can’t control themselves. These attitudes suggest that sexual violence is seen by this group as a normal part of male behaviour, which is not only untrue but also derogatory towards men.
Across all questions there was a clear pattern that male students were more likely to hold these beliefs than women.
Student attitudes towards professional boundaries with staff
The final area this survey explored was students’ attitudes towards professional boundaries with staff (as outlined on WonkHE here).
The majority of students were uncomfortable with sexualised interactions with staff, such as sexual or romantic relationships or staff asking them on a date. Responses were more mixed when it came to online and off-campus interactions. Across all questions, women students were less comfortable than men with all the types of interactions we asked about.
Read the full report: ‘Is This Normal?‘
The 1752 Group 