A recent survey carried out by Revolt Sexual Assault and The Student Room found that:
Half of all students and recent graduates surveyed have experienced sexual harassment
Around one third of students questioned witnessed sexual assault or harassment at university
Over half of the non-binary students and recent graduates surveyed have experienced sexual harassment
Nearly half of those who witnessed sexual assault or harassment at university did not intervene because they did not know what to do
(Revolt Sexual Assault & The Student Room, 2018)
If you've been a bystander to these kinds of behaviours, have you ever stepped in and challenged the behaviour? If you chose not to step in, did you ever regret your decision? And if you did choose to step in, how did it work out?
A positive example:
In 2016, a former Stanford University athlete was convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman and was sentenced to six months in county jail and probation. The assault took place in January 2015, and on the night of the attack two Stanford graduate students happened to be riding their bicycles past the scene. Realising something was wrong, Peter Jonsson and Carl Fredrik Arndt stepped in and confronted the man. When he fled the scene they chased him and held him until the police arrived.
In the Victim Impact Statement read out in court the importance of the two bystanders and their intervention was highlighted: “...thank you to the two men who saved me, who I have yet to meet. I sleep with two bicycles that I drew taped above my bed to remind myself there are heroes in this story. That we are looking out for one another.” (Palo Alto, 2016)
For an overview of the case, visit: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/02/stanford-swimmer-sexual-assault-brock-allen-turner-palo-alto.
Extra resources:
Where could people intervene in this scenario: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUj2OHLAG3w
Great tool for navigating sexual boundaries: https://www.autostraddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/sexapalooza-handout-branded.pdf
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