TW: The following article contains the discussion of spiking, sexual abuse and harassment.
There will always be an increasing concern for the well-being and safety of students on a night out, whether they feel unsafe during the transport, the venue or even where they are currently employed.
One in two woman and one in five men have felt unsafe walking alone after dark in a busy public place. Although there isn’t further statistics showing a ratio over the whole UK, the Cambridge tab conducted a survey showing that just 1 in 20 students feel safe on a night out. Most of the students who took said survey shared their worries and reasonings as to why they may feel unsafe on a night out.
‘I’ve been groped so many times I can’t count them all’
Over half reported sexual harassment, like catcalling, unwanted sexual remarks and nearly a third stated on experience of sexual assault. But this isn’t the only problem being witnessed or reported on nights out. For instance, drink spiking, this is a major concern and is increasing with the years, people are finding more ways to spike young people putting them in a vulnerable state.
Being a female student myself I can say that the dangers on a night out have increased dramatically from the early 1990s. As more and more events are taking place, horrific events such as the Sarah Everard case, we are being made to feel extremely vulnerable to people around us including the people who are meant to be protecting us and we are having to take extreme caution to ensure that nothing will happen to us, however it still could.
Conducting more information, I took it to Instagram to do a poll to the public eye to get their opinions on the matter at hand. I asked the question ‘university students, do you feel safe on a night out?’ 27 students answered no and 25 of them were female. Furthering the research I did a series of interviews, 5 boys and 5 girls to compare the responses I got on each.
The male students I had spoken to have an all-around similar answer. They had explained that they feel safe to a certain extent, however they don’t believe as though something could happen to them on a night and if it did, they feel as though they would be able to protect themselves. The female students I had spoken to had very different answers. One girl had stated ‘clubs don’t do enough even when someone has been spiked let alone before to prevent it’ and that ‘bouncers are part of the problem’ explaining that the bouncers do not care and are not doing their job properly especially when protecting young adults. Even the transport is worrying for the young females I spoke to, they explained that they do not travel alone encase of an invent in which someone could be sexually abused could take place.