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Trigger Warning: mentions of rape culture and sexual assault – reader’s discretion is advised.
When the Head of Campaign Olivia Farrell met Molly Hanning, the owner of Academics Against Assault (AAA) who attends the Royal Holloway University of London, she immediately realised the impact and importance of Molly’s message. Not long after, AAA Exeter was born.
Upon noticing the similarities between the culture within Royal Holloway’s American Football teams and Exeter’s Rugby teams, Sophie Galbraith (Campaign Assistant) describes how close the cause felt to her heart from the very start – and all members of the campaign further express their shock around the statistics regarding sexual violence on university campuses in the UK and worldwide.
The willingness of the team to start their work in Exeter includes personal experiences with literature and feminist activism, like for Delight Shitta (Head of Preventative Team), Zhaniya Makhembetiva (Survivor Centred Team) and Annabel Grace (Director of Resources) or pre-existing work within the University of Exeter, such as for our Student Living Officer Kira Brookes (Campaign Assistant), who describes working closely to improve students’ safety on campus.
Throughout the past two years, the original AAA campaign team has been working closely with Royal Holloway to provide support for survivors of assault and sexual violence, as well as to create a safe space for survivors on their Instagram platform and beyond – raising awareness of how and where to seek help, how to combat ‘lad culture’ and rape culture around university campuses, and aiming to bring attention to the cause.
With the campaign gaining popularity through its relevance and being able to expand to other UK universities in Cardiff, Bath, and Liverpool, the Exeter branch’s Director of Resources, Annabel, has been working to create leaflets and posters to display around campus to further bring attention to the campaign actively asking students for feedback on what they wish to see improved regarding the cause.
The core goals of AAA centre around “changing the culture on campus” and “encouraging students to be active bystanders”, says Head of Preventative Team Delight. Head of Campaign Olivia then adds, “one of the key aspects of the campaign, like university life, is really just education”, stressing the importance of consent training for all students and especially those involved with sports typical of ‘laddish’ cultures. Of course, the goal of “prevent[ing] sexual violence at universities”, as Zhaniya (Survivor Centred Team) tells, is crucial and can be done by eradicating rape culture amongst students. Campaign members emphasise the importance of support and information regarding where to get help should an assault happen to you or someone you know.
When asked about the Exeter Students’ Guild’s response so far, the campaign greatly credits Campaign Assistant and Student Living Officer Kira Brookes and Lucie Grando (Campaigns and Democracy Coordinator at the Students’ Guild). “Kira was essential to get the campaign off the ground, and Lucie has been really great at answering all of our questions”, the team states.
Delight says that rape culture, misunderstandings around consent, and lack of bystander intervention are some of the biggest challenges for university students that AAA aims to tackle. Kira adds, “I feel there is a huge problem with normalising things like sexual assault”, stating that many don’t come forward in fears of the lack of response or action they may face. “We’re trying to shift the narrative and help people realise this isn’t normal and you should be able to trust in the systems there to support you”, they conclude. Annabel then adds that “disengagement with the university system” is what perpetuates the lack of access to support many survivors experience, and states that AAA aim to close this gap and make sure all students have the resources they need before an assault happens instead of after the traumatic event.
Delight further hopes for the campaign to “change the culture on campus so that everyone has a better understanding of sexual violence, and we can prevent it, as well as support survivors”. Olivia adds that her hope is for all attendees of the University of Exeter to acknowledge the campaign and act to change their consent training and bring more attention regarding the culture perpetuated by sports societies like the original Royal Holloway campaign has. “I think speaking student to student is much more impactful”, she concludes.
When asked about the layout of the Exeter campaign and how it works, Delight states that the Prevention team focuses on “delivering student-led workshops on consent and bystander intervention to raise awareness of sexual violence and how we can reduce the stigma around it”. This includes workshops for societies and individual student groups on how to intervene if they notice something. The Survivor Team, led by Becca, focuses on “creating a safe and inclusive space for survivors of sexual violence on Campus”. They aim to create their own support group alongside organising weekly wellness activities for those affected by the cause.
Olivia, Kira and Annabel all describe having heard numerous stories of people they know who have experienced sexual assault in Exeter. Olivia expresses her disappointment with how little has changed and hopes that the campaign can improve this. Kira, who works closely with the Guild, adds that “getting momentum behind [the movement] has made it really difficult for the University to ignore, and now we’re seeing real engagement with the issue at hand”. “The statistics of students’ experience of sexual violence in Exeter were very disappointing, so I hope our presence on campus through workshops increases education and decreases the stigma [around assault]”, adds Delight.
Looking forward, Head of Campaign Olivia describes her hopes to be a part of the Gender Equality Conference, where the campaign will run one consent workshop and one yoga class, as well as another forum stall in term three, and continue to display their posters and leaflets in common areas. AAA Exeter welcomes those interested in getting involved with the campaign to reach out to them and seek out any relevant opportunities.
Get involved with AAA Exeter, or the main AAA campaign, at the links below:
AAA Exeter Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/academicsagainstassault_exeter/
AAA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/academicsagainstassault/
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