95% of female university students have been ‘touched inappropriately’ on a night out, survey reveals

77% of female respondents believe lad culture is 'plaguing' universities, compared with 44% of males who believe the issue is 'worth worrying about'

(JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/GettyImages)

Almost every female who took part in an online sexual assault survey has been ‘touched inappropriately’ while on a night out, further adding to the growing issue of ‘lad culture’ on university campuses across the UK.

Student publication The Tab reported how, from the more than 5,000 young people who took part in its survey, 95 per cent of females said they had been groped while another 77 per cent said the issue is ‘plaguing’ universities.

Despite this, however, only 44 per cent of male respondents believed lad culture was worth worrying about with just under a quarter reportedly confessing to groping a female while out with friends.

The survey - which also sought to gather students’ views on rape culture, consent classes and revenge porn - didn’t come as a shock to one third-year Manchester student who said ‘guys seem to think it’s okay’ to touch girls up while on a night out.

The student added: “If this doesn’t prove lad culture is a problem at university, I don’t know what does.”

One respondent to the survey - who wished to remain anonymous - highlighted her own experiences of being assaulted while on nights out and said: “I’ve had hands stuck up my dress, my boobs grabbed, my bum grabbed, I’ve been pulled towards people and jeered at all because I’m a girl.”

The Tab’s findings have come shortly after a National Union of Students (NUS) study revealed how 61 per cent of first-year students were not aware of procedures to report sexual harassment incidents at their universities.

NUS women’s officer, Susuana Amoah, described the study as ‘extremely worrying’ and highlighted how the NUS has been working over the last five years to bring sexual harassment on campus to the forefront of the national conversation, all the while ensuring institutions are taking it seriously.

She added: “Reporting systems for sexual harassment are either lacking or not visible to students in a lot of cases, and this needs to change.”