Fear of rape at University

A recent survey released by the National Union of Students (NUS), has revealed a worrying rape culture among university undergraduates.

Figures show that one out of seven female students have been seriously sexually assaulted, 16 per cent have been molested and a high 68 per cent have been victim of sexual harassment on campuses.

Universities are turning into dangerous environments and still there is no policy in place to stop such attacks.

A more specific survey conducted by Cambridge University is in line with the NUS shocking results. More than one in thirteen women at the prestigious campus has been assaulted, as 8.4 per cent of the female students who responded to the online survey said they had experienced attempts to seriously sexually assault them.

The fact that  most of the attacks took place inside the university’s colleges makes the whole picture even more disturbing.

However, 88 per cent of the victims did not report the assault to the police and most of them contacted university staff, instead. Their main concern is that of not being believed.  

A RapeCrisis spokeswoman said: “We need to shift the emphasis from educating women on how to protect themselves, to educating boys from a very young age about respect for women”.

Referring to the White House, that has implemented a task force to stop sexual violence at university as soon as the campus rape issue has exploded, the spokeswoman added: “What the White House is doing is very admirable. We would like to see the UK government doing the same, as taking the issue of sexual violence at university as seriously as that”.

Universities are institutions of higher education where something like ‘rape culture’ should not take place and they are expected to create a strategy to tackle the issue accordingly.

The Health and Wellbeing committee is currently examining the impact of rape and sexual assault at Cambridge campus.