Two-thirds of women worry about sexual harassment at festivals – survey

Concerns have been raised over the safety of women going to music festivals after a survey found that almost seven out of 10 women were worried about sexual assault and sexual harassment at such events in the UK.

A further 30% of women said they had been sexually harassed and 10% had been sexually assaulted, the study by Durham University showed.

The numbers were much lower among the men who responded, with the percentage affected 5% and 1% respectively.

“These figures are shocking but not surprising as this is just more evidence that women fear for their safety at live music festivals. This fits anecdotally with what we hear every day … hopefully organisers hear this and respond appropriately, ” said Mel Kelly of Safe Gigs for Women.

The study, conducted by researchers in Durham’s law school and sociology department, has had 238 responses so far but it is continuing. It explores how safe people feel at festivals in Britain – two-thirds of respondents were female and over half were aged over 30.

Nearly two-thirds (64%) said they were worried about acquisitive crime and more than half (53%) said they felt concerned about physical violence, while two-thirds were worried about sexual assault (66%) and sexual harassment (65%) at festivals.

A higher proportion of women completing the survey were concerned about sexual assault (70%) or sexual harassment (69%) than men (56% and 53% respectively).

The Guardian heard from several women who had experienced sexual harassment. One woman, who worked at a bar at festivals, said: “Obviously in any bar job sexual harassment is fairly frequent but this summer a guy was giving me the usual ‘flirty’ bar chat: ‘What can I get you’, etc. He wouldn’t leave even after he’d been served and was like: ‘Oh you’re so beautiful can I kiss your hand?’

“I said no and then started to turn away and then he grabbed me from across the bar and tried to kiss me. I’m really sad that most of my female co-workers at festivals have experienced something similar to this.”

Another woman, speaking anonymously, said she was sexually assaulted at a major UK festival. “I was with my boyfriend and another male friend, and after about an hour of pushing our way through mad queues, we got a decent spot [for a performer] … It was absolutely rammed … I was standing next to my friend and my boyfriend was next to him. There were two guys behind us and one of them looked pretty far gone and was dancing pretty close behind me. I thought nothing of it and … Then he reached around my front, grabbed my crotch and pulled me towards him,” she said.

“I freaked out and froze, but managed to say to my friend: ‘Get me away from him.’ He didn’t see what had happened but knew something was wrong and got us away. As I got further away I got angry and wished I’d punched the guy in the face. I felt violated and the worst part was that I knew there was absolutely no point in reporting it – there were thousands of people in that field and there’d be no chance of ever picking him out.”

It comes after a YouGov survey found that one in five festivalgoers – and more than two in five of those who are female and under 40 – reported having been sexually assaulted or harassed at a UK festival.

Some festivals have attempted to tackle the issue recently. Kendal Calling and Latitude have sexual assault referral centres onsite and the Association of Independent Festivals ran a campaign last year to raise awareness about sexual violence at festivals.

Festival Republic, a UK music promoter whose flagship events are the Reading and Leeds festivals, has hosted Safe Gigs for Women at its festivals this year due to concerns about women’s safety.