85% of women sexually harassed in public
Washington women’s rights campaigner calls for tougher laws as new research shows 85% of young women have been sexually harassed in public places.
A Washington women’s rights campaigner calls for tougher laws as new research shows 85% of young women have been sexually harassed in public places.
A national coalition of women’s have published a new YouGov survey of British women’s experience of sexual harassment in public places, which reveals that 85% of women aged 18-24 have experienced unwanted sexual attention in public places and 45% have experienced unwanted sexual touching.
Of those surveyed, only 11% of women reported that someone else intervened when they experienced unwanted sexual touching in a public place, while 81% said they would have liked someone to do so.
The survey also reveals that of women who have received unwanted sexual attention and unwanted sexual touching, more than a quarter were aged under 16 the first time it happened, and more than three quarters, a large majority, were under 21 when it first happened.
Clare Philipson, from Wearside Women in Need, said:
“Unfortunately there is no specific crime against women that would cover this. There is no specific protection for women.”
“Groping, touching, inappropriate comments. It is a sex crime, people need to realise that. It isn’t a compliment, it is abuse and it does actually have a detrimental impact on the individuals that it happens to.”