Tackling sexual violence at universities

Towl, Graham; Walker, Tammi

doi:10.4324/9781351201995-1

Cited by 10 publications

(15 citation statements)

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“…Dismissal or acceptance of harassment by or of any group of students, such as by women on a night out (Phipps and Young, 2013), can only undermine any tendency to intervene in and report incidents. Whatever underpins acceptance, comments from international students about their inculcation into not objecting to or reporting harassment prior to coming to study in the UK indicate how important it is to consider diversity when designing interventions, emphasised by Towl and Walker (2019). Bystander training must therefore address university community complicit attitudes to harassment of themselves and of any group of students, whilst avoiding the potential backlash from targeting potential offenders (Camp et al, 2018;Malamuth et al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Incidents can have physical, psychological, and educational consequences (NUS, 2019;Towl and Walker, 2019). The UK National Union of Students (NUS) conducted an online cross-sectional survey with students, and produced a series of reports to understand assault and harassment on university campuses.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A number of UK universities have recently introduced online 'report and support' systems for their students; some encompass harassment whilst others focus on sexual aggression. Whilst Towl and Walker (2019) applaud the "palpable shift" (p. 35) in the sector's recognition of the need to markedly increase reporting rates, how well used these systems will be by victims, witnesses, and victims' friends remains to be seen. Brook (2019) found 75% of forced penetrative sex and 82% of forced sexual acts are not reported by student victims.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Brook (2019) found 75% of forced penetrative sex and 82% of forced sexual acts are not reported by student victims. Towl and Walker (2019) suggest that minority groups, including international students, have more barriers to reporting incidents than White, middle class students. University community bystander training might reduce under-reporting by increasing its normality.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…University community bystander training might reduce under-reporting by increasing its normality. This might have concomitant changes in the attitudes of potential perpetrators, who are aware of the current very low chance of being sanctioned (Towl and Walker, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

University student attitudes to prosocial bystander behaviours

Hennelly

Hussain

Hale

et al. 2019

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Purpose Half of British university students experience assault and harassment behaviours; few report them. Bystander intervention training has been recommended as a means of reducing these behaviours, but there is little evidence about their potential effectiveness in UK contexts. The purpose of this paper is to understand UK students’ attitudes towards reporting and intervening in sexual assault, harassment and hate crimes. Design/methodology/approach A mixed methods cross-sectional survey (n=201; 75.6 per cent women) was conducted in one British university. Open text data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings Students considered harassment and assault unacceptable, and were confident to intervene in and likely to report incidents. However, fear of backlash was a barrier to intervening and reporting, and they felt that victims should decide whether to report incidents. Students perceived perpetrators as being ignorant about what constitutes consent, harassment and assault. They identified a need for university community education about this and how to report incidents and support peers. Research limitations/implications This cross-sectional survey was conducted at one UK University. The data might not reflect other students’ attitudes, and may be subject to response bias. University community bystander training should be acceptable, report and support systems might be utilised by students. This may have potential to reduce prevalence and increase reporting. Practical implications University community bystander training should be acceptable, report and support systems might be utilised by students. This may have potential to reduce prevalence and increase reporting. Originality/value This is the first study to investigate UK student attitudes to prosocial bystander behaviours.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

University student attitudes to prosocial bystander behaviours

Hennelly

Hussain

Hale

et al. 2019

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The limits of gender and regional diversity in the European Association of Social Psychology

Nyúl

Lantos

Reicher

et al. 2021

Euro J Social Psych

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Academic associations define the scientific standards and affect individual academic careers within a discipline. The European Association of Social Psychology (EASP) was founded in 1966 to become an association for all social psychologists in Europe. However, this was unattainable during the Cold War, and more subtle obstacles, such as women's underrepresentation in academia, prevented EASP from due representation of all social psychologists. Social psychological theory offers insights into why social hierarchies are maintained and how they can be dismantled. We used the case of EASP to analyse challenges to creating a diverse and inclusive association by analysing membership data, participation, distinction and influence throughout the organisation's history and conducting a more in-depth analysis for the 2011-2017 period.We found a glass-ceiling effect for women and a persistent underrepresentation of non-Western European scholars on all levels. We conclude that increasing diversity requires more fundamental changes to overcome structural inequalities.

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Responding to gender-based violence in higher education: changes as a function of Covid-19

Franklin-Corben

Towl

2023

JACPR

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to comment on how responses to gender-based violence (GBV) in higher education (HE) changed as a function of COVID-19. Since the original lockdown directive was issued by the UK Government in March 2020, there was an acute awareness of the impact the stay-at-home order could have on prevalence and patterns of GBV, with technology-facilitated sexual violence and domestic abuse being of particular concern (Universities UK, 2020). Design/methodology/approach We give the illustrative example of our learning (from 2020 to 2022) around how we have changed our approach to supporting survivors to access information and support, and the conduct of investigations during this period. Findings For HE Institutions who were quick and keen to embrace online teaching, there was a necessity to recognise that this change in learning environment may bring an increase in online forms of sexual misconduct, and additional challenges associated with supporting survivors who were often remote from university campus. Subsequently, and swiftly, responses to GBV in HE (including formal investigations where requested) needed to change to ensure those who were subjected to sexual misconduct could access support and information, in the knowledge that they would not be disadvantaged by bringing their reports forward during a time of global uncertainty. Originality/value An insight is provided on the changes adopted to respond to GBV on campus during the early pandemic, and the impact that these changes have had to the provision of specialist service delivery over two years on.

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Tackling sexual violence at universities

Cited by 10 publications

References 0 publications

University student attitudes to prosocial bystander behaviours

University student attitudes to prosocial bystander behaviours

The limits of gender and regional diversity in the European Association of Social Psychology

Responding to gender-based violence in higher education: changes as a function of Covid-19

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