TW: This article discusses sexual assault and harassment.
Six months ago, a YouGov poll for UN Women found that 86% of young women aged 18-24 in the UK had faced sexual harassment in public spaces. This comes shortly after the death of Sarah Everard, a woman who was brutally murdered whilst walking home at night. These events have again shone a light on the harassment and violence that women face daily..
What is sexual assault and harassment?
The University of Sheffield defines sexual assault as:
‘The non-consensual touching of another person, where the touching is sexual.’
They also define sexual harassment as:
‘unwelcome behaviour of a sexual nature, which violates a person’s dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. It can include:
- ‘banter’, catcalling, wolf whistling
- uninvited or unwanted kisses, groping, touching, pinching or smacking
- sexting or using sexual images without someone’s consent, for example posting photos on social media’
What is the scale of the problem?
Sexual harassment is a worldwide issue. The UN Women website reports that 40 to 60% of women in the Middle East and North Africa have experienced ‘street-based sexual harassment.’ This includes having sexual comments made to them, being stalked or followed and being stared at. A 2018 campaign and social experiment called The Dress for Respect also displayed how many times women were touched in the Brazilian night scene. Three women wore a dress, covered in sensors, and were touched a total of 157 times in only 3 hours and 47 minutes.
Sexual harassment is also a common occurrence in UK night life. In 2016 the charity Drinkaware surveyed over 2,000 students across the UK, and found that ‘54% of 18-24 year old female students experienced sexual harassment’ when on a night out.
In an interview with BBC Newsbeat, 18-year-old Lottie says that:
“Getting groped is just part of a normal night out.”
She also shares her experience of being sexually harassed in the night scene:
“I’ve had my boobs grabbed, my bum grabbed, I’ve had people put their hands up my skirt and down my top.”
20-year-old Anna also told BBC Newsbeat:
“I’ve had one guy come up to me in a totally inappropriate situation and grab my boobs, and then he was just holding them.”
Scottish newspaper, The Herald, interviewed John, a nightclub security guard with over 30 years’ experience. He says:
“I worked the doors regularly for 30 years and at least once a month a woman reported that she had been sexually assaulted in the premises that I was working at.
“The figure would be really much higher – in some clubs you could be dealing with half a dozen instances in one night.
Why are women being touched and harassed in nightclubs?
Drinkaware states in their Drunken Nights Out report that:
‘There is an association between alcohol consumption and sexual assault. Responses from our participants suggested that molestation and groping are common experiences as part of a drunken night out.’
They also state:
‘A lack of clear boundaries means that people may easily be caught up in interactions which go further than they wish-or in which they do not wish to participate at all. In particular, problems can arise around sexual behaviour, with molestation appearing to be a common and, to some extent, accepted part of a drunken night out.’
This normalisation of sexual harassment because of the presence of alcohol also means that young women are less likely to report it, or do not know where to go to for help. In 2015, the National Union of Students reported that 61% of first year university students were unaware of how to report sexual harassment incidents.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) 2020 England and Wales sexual offences report highlighted that whilst 773,000 people had experienced sexual assault, the police database displays only 162,936 crimes. This means that many victims chose not to report their experiences to police. 40% of individuals said that they did not report the crime because they felt embarrassed. 38% said that they did not want to report the crime because they thought that it wouldn’t make a difference.
Recently, a young woman from Sheffield wrote how she ‘smacked a lad’ who sexually assaulted her in a club. She was showered with praise in the form of likes, retweets and comments from other women who reminisced on times where they also took matters into their own hands.
What is the government doing about this?
Home Secretary, Priti Patel said:
“The safety of women and girls across the country, wherever they are, is an absolute priority for me.”
“It is unacceptable that women and girls are still subject to harassment, abuse, and violence, and I do not accept that violence against women and girls is inevitable.”
In July, the government unveiled their Tackling Violence Against Women & Girls strategy, which aims to increase the support available for victims and ‘increase the number of perpetrators who get brought to justice.’
Here are some of their actions:
- Recruited 20,000 more police officers with the intention of making our ‘streets safer.’
- Toughening sentences as well as improving the protection for victims, through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.
- An extra £5 million on top of the already £25 million Safer Streets Fund.
- Introducing ‘StreetSafe’, a new online platform that will: ‘provide women and girls with a way to anonymously and quickly pinpoint areas where they have felt unsafe and say why – be it from a lack of lighting or CCTV or because of the people around them – via a simple online platform.’
What kind of support is already available?
Ask for Angela
Ask for Angela was originally a Metropolitan Police scheme that has since been adopted by many universities and night-time venues across England. If anyone is feeling unsafe, they can go up to the bar and ‘ask for Angela’ which is a code-phrase for assistance. The bar staff can help get the individual out of the situation by calling them a taxi home, calling venue security and police, or simply reuniting them with a friend.
Sheffield Students’ Union currently has this scheme running in all its venues.
If you need to talk to someone, please contact:
Samaritans 24/7 freephone: 116 123
Text SHOUT to 85258 (24/7 free service)
Sheffield Nightline (8pm-8am): 0114 222 8787
University of Sheffield student wellbeing service
If you want to report anything:
https://reportandsupport.sheffield.ac.uk/ (University of Sheffield only)
https://su.sheffield.ac.uk/complaints (for SU related complaints)
Call 101 (non-emergency police)