1 in 4 experiences sexual victimization on Quebec campuses, study finds

Sexual victimization remains a major issue on Quebec universities and is a common occurrence at social events on and off campus, according to a new study by researchers at several francophone universities across the province, including UQAM andUniversit de Sherbrooke.

The studyfound that a quarter of students atsix French-language universitiesacross the province, including Universitde Sherbrooke,Universit de Montral and UnversitLaval, experienced some form of sexual victimization, including sexual abuse,sexual harassmentand sexual coercion.

GenevivePaquette, one of theresearchers,said while most of the findingsfall in line with research conducted over the past 20 years, some widelyheld assumptions about where sexual violence is most likely to occur don't hold.

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"We think it is in big events like initiations, but, no, that's the second place these things happen,'' Paquette said in an interview.

''The first is bars and other social events.... so the context in which sexual victimization occurs [is wide]," she said.

She said education isthe key to preventing sexual victimizationon campuses.

Numbers similar to U.S.

The survey, involving close to9,000 male and femalestudents andstaff, looked into levels of sexual victimizationin university settings.

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Nearly 60 per centof respondents who said they had experienced a form of sexual victimization were in their first year, thoughthe study does not speculate as to why.

The majority of these incidents were perpetrated bypeers, as opposed to teachers or staff members.

Paquette said even though the figures might be striking, they are notout of the ordinary.

"[These figures]are more than what we think, but it's not so high when we compare ourresults to studies conducted in the U.S,'' said Paquette.

"Just because you do not hear about this stuff happeningdoesn't mean it doesn't happen."

Societal shift needed

Half of the respondents claiming to have been victims of sexual victimization toldtheir loved ones about the incident, according to the study.

One out of 10 victims showsymptoms of post-traumatic stress.

Paquette said thatuniversitiesneed to make sure victimsof sexual victimizationcan turn to their institution for support.

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"I think victims need to know what kind of support they can expect from the university," said Paquette, adding that the perpetrators of victimization must also be made aware of the consequences of their behaviour.

She said victims still fear being shamed or embarrassed if they come forward to report an incident.

"We still live in a society that tolerates in a certain way sexual victimization. When a victimtries to talk about her [experience],she receives, 'Oh, I don't thinkit's that,' or 'What were you doing?'"said Paquette.