Anti-abuse campaign targets uni students

New research by an anti-domestic violence group has revealed distorted views among some young people about consent.

University students are being challenged to call out questionable attitudes towards sex and consent.

A survey by Our Watch, the national anti-domestic violence organisation launched in 2013, found one in five young Australian women are being pressured into sexual activities.

One quarter of respondents thought this was "normal" behaviour for men.

The insight prompted Our Watch to launch campaigns at university campuses in Queensland, NSW and Victoria during orientation week.

Chief executive officer Mary Barry said it was vital to reach out to young people.

"For young people, the line between consent and non-consent is very confusing," she said at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane.

"It can be very difficult to understand, and very hard to put into practice."

The research also found almost three-quarters of young people were confident they knew what was involved in gaining consent prior to sex - but 60 per cent thought it was up to the woman to signal if she didn't want to take part.

Just over 10 per cent of men admitted to uploading compromising photos of women they know online.

QUT student Beenush Khokhar, 20, believed pop culture had much to answer for when it came to distorted attitudes, citing the Robin Thicke hit Blurred Lines as one example.

"At universities, misogyny is rife," she said.

"Whether you're waiting for a lecture and you hear a rape joke, or you walk into a lecture theatre for an engineering class and you're told you're in the wrong room, or whether you go to a party and you face things like sexual assault or unwanted touching."

Queensland's Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Shannon Fentiman, said the results were shocking.

"It does show that we absolutely need to be working with young people to challenge those attitudes and behaviours that underpin the cycle of violence," she said.

More than 600 young people, aged 12-20, took part in the research.


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Source: AAP



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