What were those elephants around Man Met this week?
- Students at MMU are leading a campaign to speak about sexual assault, harassment and consent at university
- Elephants have appeared around campus all week
A student-led campaign to address sexual assault, harassment and consent at universities was showcased on Thursday.
During a busy exam period, students at MMU have noticed inflatable elephants placed around campus from Tuesday till Thursday.
The Elephant in the Room campaign wants to empower young students to engage in meaningful conversations regarding consent and sexual assault to improve their relationships.
Campaigns co-ordinator Molly Maher said: “Sexual assault and violence as well as harassment can be hard to talk about, it can be the elephant in the room.
“And in a recent study it has shown that there is a really high prevalence of those experiences at university. So we just want to raise awareness about what consent is and what healthy relationships look like.”
A recent study by the Student Room of over 4,000 people across 150 universities revealed that 62% of students had experienced sexual violence but only 6% reported it.
The study also revealed that women were more than twice as likely to have experienced sexual violence at university.
Poppy Catchpole, a first year fashion buying and merchandising student at MMU, said: “Nobody ever wants to speak about sexual consent or sexual assault.
“They’d rather brush it under the carpet and not speak about it. So I just wanted to get the conversation flowing using this campaign.”