It happened / is happening to someone else

Sexual misconduct or assault are never okay. We condemn unacceptable behaviour, including all forms of harassment under the Equality Act 2010 and criminal law. 

Sexual misconduct is a form of harassment and is unacceptable behaviour of a sexual nature. It can include: sexual harassment; sexual violence; intimate partner violence; sexual assault; grooming; coercion or bullying with sexual elements; sexual invitations and demands; comments; non-verbal communication; creation of atmospheres of discomfort; and promised resources or advancement in exchange for sexual access.

The term ‘sexual harassment’ captures only some of the possible abuses of power that may occur. Sexual misconduct more specifically raises issues of unequal relationships, consent, and the prevention of equal access to education, opportunities and career progression. 

Sexual assault is a criminal offence and contrary to the GSA's policies and procedures.  A person commits sexual assault if they intentionally touch another person, the touching is sexual and the person does not consent. 

 

It involves all unwanted physical contact of a sexual nature and ranges from pinching, embracing, groping and kissing, to rape and sexual assault which involves penetration without consent. 

 

Consent is agreeing by choice and having the freedom and capacity to make that choice. 

A person is free to make a choice if nothing bad would happen to them if they said no. 

Capacity is about whether someone is physically and/or mentally able to make a choice and to understand the consequences of that choice. 

Sexual harassment is unwanted and unwelcome words, conduct, or behaviour of a sexual nature that has the purpose or effect of creating an intimidating, embarrassing, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for the recipient. It is a misuse of personal or institutional power and often based on a person’s gender although it is rarely about sexual desire. 

For the purpose of this policy whether or not the harasser intended to be offensive is irrelevant. The limit of acceptable behaviour as described by this policy is up to the recipient to decide. A single incident or persistent behaviour can amount to harassment. 

Sexual harassment can range from behaviour that stems from obvious to anyone or subtler behaviour less obvious to either the person responsible for the behaviour or to the recipient. Often the impact is not felt or witnessed immediately. The impact may go beyond the recipient to people who see or hear what happens or who try to offer support.

Sexual harassment can include but is not limited to: catcalling, following, making unnecessary and unwanted physical contact, sexual jokes and comments, giving unwelcome personal gifts, wolf-whistling, leering, derogatory comments, unwelcome comments about a person’s body or clothing, unwelcome questions about a person’s sex life and/or sexuality, engaging in unwelcome sexual propositions, invitations and flirtation, making somebody feel uncomfortable through displaying or sharing sexual material. Sexual harassment does not necessarily occur face to face and can be in the form of emails, visual images (such as sexually explicit pictures on walls in a shared environment), social media, telephone, text messages and image based sexual abuse, such as revenge porn and upskirting. 

Think 
- Are they in immediate danger? If they are in immediate danger or seriously injured, you can call 999 (or 112 from a mobile).

- Find a safe space.  If an incident has just happened try and find somewhere they feel safe.

- What are sexual misconduct and assault? It might be useful to think about what sexual misconduct and assault are and how some of the behaviours are described.  

Talk - If someone you know has been affected, you can encourage them to seek support. Alternatively you make an anonymous disclosure which will allow us to investigate if there are multiple instances in one area.

Find out more:

Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) provides further information on unlawful harassment

Help them report - If they want to, and you feel able to, you can help them report the incident or incidents via GSA’s Report and Support tool.

GSA Procedure. If they choose to make a formal complaint to the GSA about a student or member of staff there are procedures which set out the steps they will need to follow.

There will be limits to GSA's ability to progress reports that involve criminal activity and we would always encourage and support Police involvement. 

Seek Support - There are a number of specialist organisations that provide specialist support, including counselling for those affected by harassment. You could encourage them to reach out to such support.  GSA students can email counselling@gsa.ac.uk

A list of organisations can be found here:

The NHS Scotland sexual assault self-referral phone service can help to arrange care for the person in the days following a rape or sexual assault. The service may be able to arrange for them to have a forensic medical examination (FME) at a SARCS without making a report to the police https://www.nhsinform.scot/sarcs 

Mental Health and Wellbeing

Take care of yourself. It’s important that you take care of yourself. If you’ve heard something distressing or if something is troubling you, the GSA's Counselling Service offers confidential help to students.  Register online via: https://live.uniticms.com/gsamhw/ to request a counselling appointment.

If you are in immediate danger or are seriously injured, please call 999 (or 112 from a mobile).

If you need immediate support or feel in crisis, we have listed several emergency services contact details on GSA's external website that you may find helpful.

Students can access information on GSA's student services here

Staff can access information on GSA staff services here

Students and staff can also access support through: Papyrus Hopeline247 - Prevention of young suicide. This is a 24/7 service for young people under the age of 35 who are experiencing thoughts of suicide, as well as for anyone who is concerned that a young person could be thinking about suicide. Call 0800 068 41 41, text 07860039967 or email pat@papyrus-uk.org to stay safe or to keep someone safe from suicide.