Radio 5 phone in on consent at 9.00am

[Caprinihahahaha]

They just called to see if I wanted to go on but I have laryngitis .
I'm not feeling well so maybe I shouldn't listen. I have a feeling it's going to give me the rage.

It's such an interesting topic though - they are picking up on the students refusing to go to lectures on consent because they are 'not rapists'.

If it had been the 1980's survey there was a few issues with it, which is why I wanted to clear up whether it was or wasn't. For starters based on the question being asked is too broad, as it would define having consensual sex after a few drinks and then regretting it the next day as rape, even though it wasn't. Also 73% of the women the survey identified as being raped specifically said they weren't raped, and 42% of those the survey identified as being raped continued to have sex with their rapist in the future. Not saying that the 1/4 figure isn't accurate, but as the survey had a few anomalies and was done over 30 years ago in a different country, I'd prefer something more recent to base things on.

Don't - the NUS have been campaigning in this area for some years, and they are the source of much of the data in this area.

Hidden Marks, 2010
www.nus.org.uk/Global/NUS_hidden_marks_report_2nd_edition_web.pdf

That's what she said, 2013
www.nus.org.uk/Global/Campaigns/That's-what-she-said-summary-WEB.PDF

Lad culture audit 2015
s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/nusdigital/document/documents/16504/Lad%20culture%20audit%20report%202015%20formattedFINAL.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJKEA56ZWKFU6MHNQ&Expires=1445444704&Signature=HTIX9U6v0lKHPpBKGFYIM1ih4OI%3D

There is a real lack of evidence of the prevalence of sexism on campus, however, because it turns out that a lot of universities don't actually record incidents, even when they are as serious as rape. Obviously, a lot of wider harassment falls into a class that isn't reported at all, even informally, yet it still does damage.

www.independent.co.uk/news/education/higher/britains-elite-universities-dont-fully-record-allegations-of-rape-or-sexual-assault-10274020.html

Thanks holly got the links will have a food look when I get home.

Might have a "good" look instead of food look

I like the idea of a 'food look'.... internetting while eating!

Is it that they don't report them or just don't have a formal procedure for reporting them anonymously?

Well, when I think about all the times I've been harassed, I reckon I've reported around 1% of them. And really, when I think about it, there are so many incidents that I really SHOULD have mentioned to someone. Like the guy who ground against me for ages on a packed London tube carriage when I was in my early 20s. Or my ex-boss, who was a sexist pig. Why didn't I? Because I knew they wouldn't be taken seriously. Because I didn't have time. Because I kind of accepted that these kinds of incidents were just going to be a background to my life as a woman in public space. What about you?

I think the university thing is that some institutions haven't put in formal procedures to ensure that incidents are reported to them, as well as to the police. It's the old thing about the place of the crime not really 'mattering' - even though (as in the case of universities) there may be all kinds of institutional/cultural issues that permeate that place that make rape there far more likely than elsewhere (lad culture, for instance).

You can't ensure that something gets reported to you, that's always a choice on the victims part. They don't need to report it but then that means nothing can be done.

Having said that I find it shocking that a university of all places doesn't have some kind of formalised policy for anonymously reporting something like this.

Yes, but you can have mechanisms in place so that the information of those who DO want to report it can be collected and collated. If you don't have any mechanisms, no-one can report.

xpost!

It seems that people can report it at that university but there just isn't an official policy on how to so so. A slight difference but yes they should have a proper policy in place.

I don't think that's a slight difference, I think its a big difference. Without a clear policy, how will students know that they can report and that they will be taken seriously?

Its why schools all have anti-bullying policies, and in most (possibly all) schools the policy is detailed on the school website.

Why would you think you couldn't report? A lack of policy doesn't mean you are somehow banned from reporting stuff. Although the difference is minimal because I agree you need a clear policy to let people know HOW they go about reporting.