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ON CAMPUS
violence do not report it because the support is inadequate, and
they don’t believe anything will be done about it, because that is
the experience of many students. Another thing we want to see is
universities putting resources directly into support services such as
counsellors who are specifically trained to deal with survivors of
sexual assault.
Commentary around cases like this often focuses on the male
perpetrator’s future. In Turner’s case, there was a large focus on
his abilities as a swimmer, his Olympic aspirations, and the bright
future he seemed to have. In contrast, victims’ pasts are often
dissected and questions asked about what they could have done
differently to prevent their assault. Some label this a branch of
victim blaming. Is this something that rings true in your experience
in looking at these cases and, if so, how do we improve the level of
discourse in such discussions?
attention to this issue, to change people’s thinking about it and to
promote greater acknowledgement of the need for better efforts
to stop it?
Maybe. I don’t think this particular event is going to change things
as such. It’s been one in a number of events that have brought
people’s attention to the issue this year and that’s been happening
both in the US and Australia. There have been quite a lot of cases
that have gained a lot of media attention and have made people
think a lot more about the issues than they did in the past. As to
whether [a broadly publicised case such as Turner’s] was needed,
I guess the answer is yes, but a lot of public attention around
an issue like sexual assault is needed because otherwise it is
something that gets easily slipped under the rug. It’s something
people don’t want to talk about and don’t want to know about.
Having that media attention has forced people to think about it a
little bit more and that’s good.
What changes would you like to see in order to correct this problem?
Removing the problem altogether is going to be a really, really
long-term project and there’s not an easy answer to that because
it’s bound up in lots of difficult issues, such as the fact that gender
inequality still exists in Australia. There are a number of changes the
NUS is advocating for on university campuses to increase support
for survivors or victims who experience sexual assault. One of
the specific changes [we want] is accessible and clear reporting
processes, because we know from students’ stories that university
support is often not good. Most students who experience sexual
Yes, it’s definitely a massive problem and it’s something that
happens to many survivors of sexual assault at universities. That’s
not to say that it doesn’t happen more broadly, though. It happens
all over society to women, particularly, who experience rape or
other forms of sexual violence and harassment. Changing that
requires changing, for one, people’s attitudes around who is
at fault and [also these perceptions some people have that it is
somehow] OK for men to perpetuate violence. [It’s not OK, and
that] needs to be clear. That comes back to education from early
on; things like training around what is and what isn’t consent and
what is and isn’t OK. This means starting from when people start
school [as well as having a big focus at the stage] when people
are starting university. That kind of training needs to be at every
level, so there are clear standards for what people can and can’t
do. And then there shouldn’t be any kind of sympathy, I suppose.
At the moment, there is a lot of sympathy for perpetrators of
violence. People think: ‘Well they must have had problems going
on that caused them to do this. What’s going to happen to them
now that they’ve been described as this horrible person?’
That shouldn’t be the case. It should be known from the
beginning that it’s not OK for them to do that and there shouldn’t
be any second chances.
Better supporting survivors comes down to education as well,
but also better support services. If it was standard practice after a
sexual assault that the survivor was expected to report it and to be
given immediate support and counselling, then I imagine the victim
blaming [would decrease] because people would start seeing them
as the true victims that they are.
In addition to victim blaming, there’s also a lot of alcohol blaming
that goes on. Do you put much stock in that?
That’s an interesting one. I often get asked about this. Alcohol
is something that definitely perpetuates violence and obviously
there’s no doubt that when people are in alcohol-fuelled
environments, such as college parties or end-of-semester
gatherings, these incidents are more likely to occur. But there’s a lot
of confusion around the role of alcohol. While it does perpetuate
the violence, it certainly doesn’t cause it. If someone is going to
perpetuate violence against women or violence in general, the
intent has to be there in the beginning and that’s something that
is created through a range of things. One of the biggest is gender
socialisation that encourages men to be masculine and tough and
to treat women in a certain way. ■
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