Impact Investigations Team
STORY FOUR
In light of recent spiking incidences, Impact in collaboration with NSTV and URN have conducted a university-wide survey* shedding light on female safety concerns at the University of Nottingham.
85% of male students surveyed at UoN do not feel that there is an overall misogynistic culture at the University
The majority of men surveyed do not feel there is a misogynistic culture at the University of Nottingham. Despite this, 71.4% of men responded that they knew someone at the University who had made sexist or misogynistic jokes and a further 63.5% knew of someone who had made jokes involving sexual abuse of women, such as rape jokes. These figures would indicate that most men feel the issue of misogyny is contained in isolated incidents, but the women surveyed had a more sceptical response. In fact, over half of the women surveyed felt there was an overall misogynistic culture at the University of Nottingham.
Furthermore, 55% of male respondents felt disconcerted about the way other men were speaking about women, whilst almost one third of men felt unable to call out the problematic behaviour of others. When asked why this was, one respondent expressed fears about the “social stigma around speaking up against ‘lad culture’ and the fear of being seen as less of a ‘man’, exclusion from groups, being labelled a ‘pussy’, ‘simp’, or a ‘homosexual’.” Another male respondent concerningly reported feeling unable to call out sexist behaviour as “it was a lecturer during a whole cohort lecture.”
When asked what changes they would like to see, both the women and men surveyed drew attention to the same few problem areas: greater education, attitude changes, environmental changes (such as better lighting on campus), increased security and reporting procedure changes. With respondents demanding these reforms be backed by the University of Nottingham, the Students’ Union and the Nottingham Community (e.g., the Council and Police) collectively, it would be fair to infer that students are calling for a multifaceted response.
With this survey and the recent spiking incidents pushing the problem of women’s safety in Nottingham to the forefront, it is time female students were provided with a proactive plan outlining systemic change. Are we waiting for something truly terrible to happen before anything concrete is done? No one wants to hear the words “we told you so”. Let’s hope those in power take heed now and never have to hear them.
**When this article uses the term women, men, male or female, it references all individuals self-identifying with these genders.
**The survey received a total of 826 responses, 615 of whom identified as female and 211 as male.
Written by Niamh Robinson
Researched by Impact Investigations:
Niamh Robinson, Madeleine Collier, Emily Vivian, Lauren Mcgaun, Alice Nott, Gareth Holmes, Hannah Walton-Hughes, Jasmin Lemarie, India Rose Campbell, Natasha Saxton, Lana Christon, Tessa Williams, Faith Millington, Sarina Rivlin-Sanders, Rebecca Starkie, Olivia Conroy, Lauren Bryant, Niamh Budd
Featured image courtesy of Rian Patel. Permission to use granted to Impact.
Further resources and support:
University of Nottingham Sexual Violence Liaison Officer (SVLO) Service:
Report and Support: https://reportandsupport.nottingham.ac.uk/
Let’s Be Clear on Consent: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/currentstudents/healthyu/lets-be-clear-on-consent.aspx
