Have YOU crossed the line?

It’s Friday night and you’re out with your friends. You’re wearing your favourite outfit, you’re walking through the crowd. . . and someone gropes you.

This behaviour has become so common on student nights you start to wonder if it might be a new trend like ‘Milking’ or doing the ‘Harlem Shake’.

Rest assured it isn’t, however, it was a hot topic during the 2013 NUS conference, where sexual harassment was addressed quite frequently.

In his opening speech, former NUS president Liam Burns stated that “every single women student deserves to feel comfortable in her own Union bar.”

Interestingly enough, although the newly elected President Toni Pearce supports the motion of ‘Fair Representation,’ (requesting the National Executive Council have an equal number of male and female delegates) she failed to address the topic of sexual harassment across UK campuses in her manifesto.

It seems that wherever you turn, there’s a student who has experienced some form of sexual harassment.

This seems to be the case at the University of Leicester, as students share their experiences:

Genevive
1st year
Where:Republic

“I gave my number to a guy I met on a student night who from then onwards kept calling and harassing me, threatening that he was going to come to John Foster and find me. When I finally told him to stop bothering me, he told me that he and his friends were going to come and find me and beat me up. He then went on to say that he wanted my babies! He was a complete freak.”

Lina, 1st year, Where: Red Leicester (02 Academy)

“It was Halloween and some guy put his hand up my dress. I started swearing and having a go at him and he immediately denied it, as did his friends who were with him. I went to one of the bouncers and told him what happened, but by then he had already left. It was impossible to find him because he was dressed up as a zombie, which a lot of students had dressed up as. I was so upset that I just ended up going home.”

Leicester’s O2 Academy, host of Red Leicester

Allie, 1st year, Where: Republic

“This one guy had the audacity to casually grab my boob and thought it was okay. The way he looked in my eye and smiled really dirty when it happened disgusted me. I freaked out and started swearing, but he just walked off smiling. He acted like he had the right to do whatever he wanted. It just made me want to punch him.”

Christina, 1st year, Where: Republic

“This guy kept trying to talk to me and I eventually asked him to leave me alone. He literally grabbed me and lifted me up like I was a doll or something! I yelled at him to put me down, but he just laughed. After I shouted a second time, he finally let me go. It was so inappropriate…I felt powerless and also kind of insulted.”

Natalie, 3rd year, Where: Republic

“A guy walked up to me as if he knew me, took my hand and started kissing me even though I was pushing him away. My friend had to pull him off of me and told him to back off. When I ran into him again at the club, he slyly asked for another kiss.”

Club Republic

Guys seem to be the main focus here, but there still are some male students who aren’t out looking to cop a feel:

Alex, 1st year, Where: Republic

“I saw this girl dancing with a guy close to my friends and myself. She was soon encircled by all of the guy’s friends and she looked very uncomfortable and scared. I decided to help her out and asked her if she wanted to dance with my friends and me. She agreed, but then all the guys kicked off saying that I was ‘stealing their girl’ and started beating me.”

Daniel, 1st year, Where: Republic

“I accidently bumped into a girl. She turned around and pushed me so hard I flew across the room. The girl was such a bitch. I went over to apologise and she just ignored me. It’s not ok because sometimes girls play on being delicate when actually, they can be more aggressive on a night out than guys.”

*All names have been changed