in the student environment, almost half of sexist and sexual assaults take place during evenings

A quarter of women and a third of LGBT people say they have suffered at least one sexual assault or rape since starting higher education. The France Victimes association is calling for additional means to prevent and denounce this violence.

Do student parties still represent risky places in terms of gender-based and sexual violence? It has been several years since the subject came to light. Actions are being put in place but clearly that is not enough: the Ministry of Higher Education published, Wednesday October 2, a survey carried out among 67,000 students between 2023 and 2024. We learn that a quarter of Women and a third of LGBT people report having suffered at least one sexual assault or rape, or an attempt at these acts, since arriving at their university or college. In detail, what stands out is the link between this violence and the festive contexts.

Alcohol consumption is present in more than half of sexual violence, whether on the part of the perpetrators or the victims. For Gaëlle Berton, president of the Observatory of sexist and sexual violence in higher education, drinking is not the cause of these facts but aggravates them: “For the victims, being in a festive context makes it difficult to understand what happened, to put words to it. The perpetrators, for their part, have a notion of disempowerment, of saying: ‘I didn’t really know what that I was doing.’ As a result, alcohol facilitates and justifies this type of violence.”

Nearly half of assaults or attempts occur at parties, the report shows. They are more frequent when the night is well underway rather than in the early evening. Progress has been made for several years, notes the activist, but there is still a long way to go: “We notice that there is a mobilization of student associations, which is entirely positive, except that it should not be the work of the student associations but the responsibility of the establishment. We notice that establishments are extremely proactive , put in the necessary budget, but other establishments will not put anything in place.“In the event of rape or sexual assault during student evenings, “schools must also take responsibility”insists Jérôme Moreau, spokesperson and vice-president of the France Victimes association. According to him, it is necessary “sanction them on a criminal level, but also on an academic level and exclude them definitively”. A student who cheats on an exam “can be subject to up to five years of exclusion”, he emphasizes. “In a rape case, we must go much further”.

The ministry’s survey also shows that legal action is very rare: the victim of rape files a complaint in only 8% of cases. France Victimes demands Thursday on franceinfo “additional means” to prevent and denounce this violence. In the festive context of student evenings, excessive alcohol consumption poses two problems, according to Jérôme Moreau.

“The victims feel guilty for having consumed alcohol, it is a factor of aggravation of their shame while the aggressors feel uninhibited, because they have drunk alcohol”.

Jérôme Moreau, spokesperson and vice-president of the France Victimes association

at franceinfo

“A victim should never be ashamed”recalls Jérôme Moreau. “An attacker is always guilty of what he did, regardless of the substance he consumed. This is absolutely not a justifying fact”.