A wave of testimonies is sweeping through the student community. Sexual violence in higher schools is well known, yet the word is only just beginning to be released. Students testifying to a need to strengthen listening skills and to co-educate themselves between classmates.
It was an open letter to a Facebook group that sparked a wave of testimonials.
"This January 23, a first testimony explodes like a bomb, on a Facebook group, the group of students of Sciences Po Bordeaux, can we read. (…) This testimony speaks of rape and sexual violence, it warns of the incompetence of the administration in the face of the distress of a student whose mental health is deteriorating, to the darkest thoughts. Then, a second testimony is published, joining the first in its gravity. Then a third, a fourth, a fifth …
“This avalanche of words, as harsh as the traumas they illustrate, does not only belong to the Sciences Po Bordeaux community. It must extend beyond our walls: the assaulted as well as the assailants are everywhere, the accounts not being limited to facts which concern only IEP students.
In the microcosm of our establishment, we experience what liberation of speech means. In times when we lack freedoms, we have at least the freedom to express ourselves. "
This letter is based on the first testimony of a student who testifies to her distress after a rape suffered during her studies. This young woman thereby wanted to denounce the silence, the lack of capacity of the school to support her while this sexual violence is causing her to lose ground in her education. This testimony elicits others about the school group. Young women report sexual violence during their studies, during their year abroad. This violence which affects their mental and physical health, and which the school, however attached to forming the elite of the nation, seems to be struggling to take the measure.
This is how a storm of testimony from all the Institutes of Political Studies took shape, denouncing the culture of rape within the establishments, and the difficult reception of the victims' words. However, students also take advantage of this free speech to educate each other and propose solutions for change.
Free speech versus free listening
Witnessing a sexual assault is a courageous act. Particularly in a small closed school environment, with promotions where everyone knows each other directly or indirectly. In an environment where students think they are enlightened enough to allow themselves to drift away, and where alcohol and evenings are far from lacking. Following this publication and the call for testimonies launched by the "Memes for cool feminist kids" account, people are speaking out against a culture of rape that is very present in all establishments.
Two major problems are denounced here: the reception of speech by the establishment; but also the silence that reigns among students.
First, institutions welcome the word: administrations are slowly starting to realize the extent of the problem. However, many testimonies note that when the facts are known to the administrations, they generally do not wish to interfere, unless risking the reputation of the school. Yet, as one student commented, institutions have a responsibility to make their schools safe places to learn. Certain internal regulations thus mention the fact that "The student comes under the disciplinary regime when he is author or accomplice, in particular: of an act likely to undermine the order or the proper functioning of the establishment, for example: physical or verbal aggression (.. .) act of such a nature as to seriously damage the image of the establishment, its staff and its teachers. "
When facts committed between students become known, however, it is often only the alleged victim who suffers. Suspected rapists are rarely worried. Beyond the justice dimension, if establishments are beating the ears of their establishments with training on digital identity or the importance of monitoring one's words, the modules to educate about consent are absent. Even though these management teams are aware of the evenings and sometimes borderline integration practices.
The other great evil portrayed in these testimonies is the silence between the students and the difficulty of the position of the victims. The attacks take place in alcoholic contexts, the aggressors are known and appreciated, sometimes even valued within associations. The desire to integrate leads to silence.
Freedom of speech pays off, however. Monday February 8, 2021, Anna Toumazoff, behind the Memes account for cool kids feminists announces that a young woman who testified on the page has been received by the director of Sciences Po Toulouse. The latter decided to take strong measures, in particular the dissolution and overhaul of associations in charge of student life and the overhaul of integration events. This sudden halt in a time of poor social life comes at the right time. It is also for Sciences Po Toulouse the opportunity to start a reflection on the Crit (inter IEP sporting event), an event as much awaited by many students as feared by the administrations and the municipalities for the excesses that it generates each year. .
Because if the problems are legion, the solutions are not lacking, as long as we let the students propose them.
Testimonials that allow co-education between students
This is the other side of this open letter and all these testimonies: the students have the keys to stem the culture of rape. "Today, it is a mountain of support and benevolence which is born within the connected and distanced community of Sciences Po Bordeaux. In this context, the resilience of its students is matched only by the indifference of its directors. " As a former student of the establishment, I can myself testify to the turmoil, questions and discussions that this has created among my friends, who have been away from different IEPs for several years now.
This resilience is diffused in the testimonies and the support given. According to some of the students contacted, shame really changes sides. The debates provoked between students make it possible to co-educate each other on the notion of consent and the notion of “gray area”. Who, let us remember, does not exist since all he wants to get out of it is to speak and ask the question.
The solutions proposed are legion to welcome the word, protect victims and avoid new ones. The pupils imagine many devices to welcome the spoken word. because if there is freedom of speech, it is also necessary to free the listening devices!
A student makes a list:
“Some suggestions:
– Have 2 psychologists per establishment minimum. Preferably specialized in supporting victims of sexual violence, rape, harassment, cyberbullying, stress management and burnout.
– A legal representative specializing in the legal monitoring of discrimination (sexism, racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, grossophobia, handiphobia, etc.) and prosecution in the event of sexual assault / rape. Its work would be the logical follow-up of the support initiated by psychologists.
– A permanent safe zone, why not managed by a (new) IEP association, where students can come in all circumstances, at any time to talk. To be listened to and to be heard. This work would be complementary to that of the two psychologists.
– An escort service during the school year. On the principle of a relay, the students of the promotion are "on call" in groups of 4 mixed (arbitrary number to be determined) and can be requested for a ride or assistance if someone does not feel not safe. It is to be determined whether this service would apply every day or only for Sciences-Po events. ”
Associations have been set up in IEPs to address these themes of sexual violence and consent education. Their work is underlined in numerous testimonies, which pay tribute to the collectives who act: Pamplemousse, Bon Chic Bon Genre, Garces. It would nevertheless be a question of better valuing them within the associative life of the school, where the student and sports offices often come before this type of association. Supervision is all the more necessary as it is sometimes from this type of collective that violence emanates. The IEP of Rennes had the painful experience of this with an Anti-Sexist Action Collective which shattered the lives of two people by a savage denunciation of facts not clarified by justice, in a context of great tensions with the management from school. It is finally a question of putting an end to the figure of a rapist and a monstrous sexual assailant. The rapist and the sexual assailant are among us, and are generally popular, funny, popular, hard to ostracize people.
Administrations must therefore listen to the solutions that the students, who debate and find solutions together, have to offer them. This is underway in many establishments, which have set up equality referents. On February 2, 2021, the first school to have been affected by this wave, Sciences Po Bordeaux announced in a press release the courses of action they favor.
The tracks are in place for this kind of testimony to become obsolete. The movement is also spreading outside IEPs, especially in art schools. It is to be bet that the metoo student has not finished expanding, in order to train young people in a climate far from sexual violence.