16% Of Students Have An Unwanted Sexual Experience, Report Shows

Senator Ivana Bacik is launching a landmark report published by the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) entitled 'Say Something', which documents students' experiences of harassment, stalking, violence and sexual assaults. The report finds that 16% of students overall have had some unwanted sexual experience during their time as a student.

Senator Bacik said: "For the first time, we have a truly representative study of the level of sexual violence and harassment that goes on at third level. The study achieved an impressive level of response – over 2,700 respondents completed surveys between January and February of this year. Over 80% of students who responded were undergraduates, drawn from campuses all over the country.

"The findings should raise serious concerns. According to the report, 11% of women respondents reported that they had been subject to unwanted sexual contact, and 5% of women reported that they had been victims of rape during their time as a student. The largest proportion of victims of unwanted sexual experiences described the perpetrators as being 'acquaintances'. In over 60% of cases, the perpetrator was believed to be under the influence of alcohol.

"Also of concern is the low level of reporting evident from the study – only 14 of the total of 430 victims of unwanted sexual contact (3%) had reported this to an official within their college or university – an even smaller proportion, 12 or less than 3% had reported the incident to the Gardai."

(CD/JP)