There has been a lot of focus on harassment on campuses over the last couple of years; some high profile cases in the UK and the US have demonstrated that racial abuse and sexual harassment still takes place in our elite institutions. In September, the government ordered an enquiry into sexual harassment against women on campus.
However, to many there is a far greater plight suffered by an invisible minority. LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual) people on campus have asked that the government not forget the harassment that they suffer too. Harassment against people on grounds of sexuality is also a growing problem – bucking the trend of acceptance of different sexualities.
Gender Fluidity
Despite great strides in the last few decades on rights for people who identify as homosexual, bisexual and everything else not considered heterosexual, there still exists discrimination in many walks of life. For people who identify as “non-binary” there has been an increase in abuse and harassment on our campuses. Non-binary is where there is an overlap between gender identities. Some people are happy to identify themselves as “straight”, “gay”, “bisexual” but for others, their gender identity is not quite so clear.
These are people who struggle to know which toilet they should use. They may have a male body but identify as female, or vice versa, or may have been born in one body but do not identify themselves either as male or female. They see gender and sex as separate issues: pansexual is a new words to most of us but to those who identify, it is a title that finally defines what it is about them that does not fit in the gendered box. Identifying as “female man” or “male woman” are common. Everyday things that most of us take for granted can cause a great deal of angst, especially when challenged by others for using the “wrong” facilities.
Non-binary students report being harassed for using both men and women’s toilets – feeling damned either way.
One In Three
The statistics that one in five LGBT people suffer abuse because of their identity are shocking in themselves, but what is even more shocking is that people who identify as non-binary / gender fluid are suffering discrimination and harassment at educational establishments at a rate of one in three.
Three quarters of those surveyed in a report by The Guardian in October found that over 75% of non-binary people felt uncomfortable and unsafe on their campus and had considered leaving their course because of it.
Typical accusations against non-binary people on campus include “attention seeking” and feeling shunned by both men and women. Sexual harassment and assault are reported to be increasingly common and “Lad Culture” has been blamed for most of it, but harassment can come from other quarters too. Traditional religious values are just as welcome as more liberal religious values and there have been ongoing concerns in this area too.