Nearly half of Birmingham girls say they have been sexually assaulted

A staggering 44 per cent of girls admit they’ve been sexually assaulted.

The survey – which had over 5,500 participants – serves as a harrowing reminder of the lad culture problem plaguing our uni.

Of the 199 respondents from Birmingham, a worrying 12 per cent of girls also say they’ve been raped.

The results make Birmingham the third highest uni for sexual assaults.

59 per cent of the assaults took place at university, with a third happening during the victim’s first year.

Of these, eight per cent happened during Freshers’ Week.
Nearly half – 41 per cent – of these attacks happened at school, when the victims were 18 years old or younger.

One anonymous respondent said: “Once a guy, who had tried to kiss me earlier in the night and I rejected made a second attempt, which I also rejected.

“Then he proceeded to hold my arms down by my sides from behind with one arm, despite me saying no and trying to get free.

“He put his hand down my tights and pants even though I was really violently protesting, and I only managed to get away when I finally managed to get my arm behind my back and punch him in his erect penis.

“After telling my friends who I ran to after they told me it was bad but not to worry ,and we should just go home.

“It was a person I didn’t know and I didn’t report it as I didn’t have a good enough idea of his description.”

Another said: “I’ve only told one friend three years after it happened, she believed me.

“I’ve never told the University because I was embarrassed, worried people who call me names and the person would try a revenge, or that I’d be accused of being a drunk whore.”

Dan, a third year Medical Science student, was not surprised by these statistics.

He said: “It’s more likely for assaults to happen in Freshers’ Week unfortunately. Everyone’s drunk and trying to impress each other, who shagged who last night and all that. Whether or not it was consensual probably slips under the radar.”

57 per cent of those who had been sexually assaulted knew their attacker prior to the incident.

Nationally, 77 per cent of sexual assault victims either told someone or reported their case to the police, with just under a quarter saying they felt they couldn’t confide in anyone safely.