‘The crime of simply existing’: Inside the backlash for ‘harmful’ Lancs confession pages

TW: Sexist language, derogatory language, references to explicit content

Lancaster-based Instagram accounts have recently come under fire from students after a series of posts spread what was deemed “objectifying” content.

Over the past few weeks, multiple anonymous confessions pages have been cropping up for students at Lancaster University, where young people can anonymously submit confessions about their time as a student to be publicly posted on social media.

However, these pages have recently faced backlash from students and Lancaster University colleges after a series of shared confessions featured “objectifying” sexual comments about students, which Bowland College’s JCR said “contributes towards a culture of sexual harrassment.”

Backlash began when the popular Instagram account Where Is Guinness (@whereisguinness), posted an Instagram story on Friday 21st February 2025 calling out confessions page LancScenes (@lancscenes) among other accounts for not “policing what they post.”

This was in response to a since-deleted LancScenes post where a student spoke sexually about a girl playing pool in Barker House Farm on campus. Where Is Guiness’ admin commented on this post, saying: “Dude leave her alone she’s just minding her damn business.”

In a separate comment, the admin continued: “Women are just trying to live their lives. They already have to worry about being harassed and followed. Now they have to be afraid that they will open Instagram and see some random person is admitting to having sexual fantasies about them just because they left their house.”

On Where Is Guiness’ story, they posted a screenshot of their admin’s comments, adding: “Some of these confessions pages need to start policing what they post. The amount of people openly expressing their sexual fantasies of a stranger is insane.”

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Via @whereisguinness on Instagram. Admin Instagram handle has been blurred to protect student privacy.

Where Is Guinness later thanked LancScenes for removing the post in question, but added that there are still “several confessions pages that post explicit confessions.”

In light of this controversy, LancScenes shared on its Instagram story that the number of admins managing the account had reduced from five people to three people. The remaining admins shared that two male admins had been “carelessly posting ALL confessions and looked to be sabotaging this page.”

“From here on our LancsScenes will be managed with the utmost care,” they added.

Via @lancscenes on Instagram

Another growing Lancaster confessions page is Lancaster Confesions (@lanc_fess). Both accounts regularly post confessions where students admit to fantasising about fellow Lancaster University students without their knowledge, or post derogatory comments about other, namely female, students.

One poster admitted in a LancScenes submission to “messaging girls till they are attached to me, sh*gging them and then binning them off,” calling it their “favourite hobby.”

Another LancScenes post attacked a girl’s appearance, saying that she “looked like a man.”

Lancaster Confessions have been inactive since last Friday, when the controversy began. Past posts featured explicit descriptions of female students in lecture halls, along with confessions from students fantasising about other young people at Lancaster University. These posts included identifying information for those described, such as course names, house numbers, piercings and physical descriptions.

More than one post featured multiple confessions of a sexual nature about the same male student.

We have not linked these posts to protect the privacy of those who were unknowingly described.

Not long after Where Is Guinness criticised such content, Bowland College’s JCR released the first of eight college JCR statements on the controversy, saying they are “deeply concerned” about a rising trend in Lancaster confessions pages that “enable the public posting of explicit content about individuals without their consent.”

“While the JCR supports student-led communities,” the statement continued, “there is a clear line between light-hearted content and content that contributes towards a culture of sexual harrassment.

“Recent trends on these accounts have seen users openly expressing sexual fantasises about strangers and targeting individuals who have no opportunity to consent or respond. This behaviour is not just inappropriate, it is actively harmful to our University Community. It creates an environment where students feel unsafe for the crime of simply existing in a shared space on and off of campus.

“We call on the people running these pages to exercise responsibility by moderating harmful submissions and not publishing content that contributes to sexual harassment, objectification, and general abuse.

“We stand for a safe, respectful university community and we don’t and should not tolerate the normalisation of predatory behaviour.”

Bowland JCR, along with other Lancaster University colleges, also shared contact information for university and college welfare teams and mental health organisations.

Cartmel College’s JCR said that the posts were “harmful and distasteful,” and argued that such content was contributing to a “rape culture that allows for deep injustices to remain ignored.” Similarly, the Postgraduate Board Executive (which runs Graduate College) said that they “strongly condemn” the “growing trend” of explicit confessions.

Other popular student-led Instagram communities followed in the criticism of confessions pages. Lancs Crush’s admin (@lancs_crush), who posts anonymous crush confessions, responded to Where Is Guinness’ statement by saying that they are “all for niche Lancaster memes, funny stories, shared experiences etc but the second it starts to hurt people it’s never funny or worth the damage it causes.

“These platforms have a responsibility to filter out harmful content,” they added, “and protect their viewers from harassment, objectification, and abuse.”

In an statement to The Lancaster Tab, Lancaster University’s Students’ Union’s officer team said: “As an Officer Team, we were really proud of the college execs taking initiative and responding early on. It’s so great to see our student leaders coming together to oppose inappropriate behaviour online.

LancScenes and Lancaster Confessions have been contacted for comment but did not respond.

If you have been affected by the contents of this article, have experienced harassment, or feel unsafe please don’t hesitate to reach out for assistance from relevant welfare teams. The following contacts are accessible to students at Lancaster: 

Unisafe (Lancaster Universty’s Incident and Support Service): portal.lancaster.ac.uk/ask/report

Students’ Union Advice Service: [email protected]

Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Line: 0808 500 2222

Lancashire Victim Support: 0300 323 0085

Sex Addicts Anonymous: www.saauk.info

Mind UK: 0300 102 1234

Samaritans: 116 123

Featured images via @pendlecollege @furnesscollege @lancs_crush and @countycollege on Instagram.