News | Tuesday, 9th February 2021

Standing up to public sexual harassment

Your personal space should always be respected

We all know no means no, and we strive to create an environment where you have the freedom to make your own choices and everyone respects our personal boundaries.

It’s important to remember, everybody has the right to feel safe, and two Manchester Met students, Caitlin Hyatt and Philippa Humphries, have come together to create the Manchester Students Against Public Sexual Harassment group.

The group aims to raise awareness of the issues surrounding consent and public sexual harassment by working with organisations to make student areas a safer place.

Caitlin and Philippa tell us more about their important campaign:

“Sexual harassment impacting students is an issue we both feel strongly about, and we wanted to do something positive to help raise awareness of the issue, make student areas safer and highlight the support available.

“We started to notice an increase in reports of intimidation, harassment and assault on the Manchester Student Facebook Group, and this inspired us to create the Manchester Students Against Public Sexual Harassment group.

“This group is a safe online space for those who are passionate about ending public sexual harassment (PSH) in Manchester, in addition to giving students a platform to share their experiences and seek advice.

“We log any reports from our members who have experienced PSH to a digital map and ask for their permission to collect their experience as testimony. This helps us to highlight where incidents like this have taken place and flags any areas where the organisations we are working with need to focus on the most.

“The University has been really supportive of our campaign and has worked with us in meetings we have instigated with important stakeholders, including the Deputy Mayor’s Office, Greater Manchester Police and Manchester Student Homes.

“Our long-term plan is to establish a cross-body group with the aforementioned organisations, working towards ending public sexual harassment. This is ongoing process in which we are committed to creating safer spaces.

“Our key piece of advice to everyone is to report any incident to the police, no matter how big or small it feels to you. Descriptions, times and locations all help the Police, it could really make a big a difference.

“Public sexual assault and harassment can happen to anyone and we hear your voices of frustration and anger about it. We want everyone to work together to put an end to it.” 

You can join Caitlin and Philippa’s campaign via the Manchester Students Against Public Sexual Harassment Facebook group.

If you have experienced any form of sexual assault and harassment, you should report it to the police. If you are in immediate danger, call 999 and ask for the police. If you are in danger and unable to talk on the phone, call 999 and listen to the questions from the operator and, if you can, respond by coughing or tapping on the handset.

You can also report incidents through our Report + Support platform, anonymously if you wish.

Please visit our Consent Matters Training webpage to find out more about consent and healthy relationships.