I was attacked by Eton boy, says claims dossier activist
THE organiser of a dossier of sexual abuse allegations against boys at top private schools has told of being assaulted by an Eton pupil.
Zan Moon, 24, wrote an open letter to the headteachers of eight leading schools over the ‘serious misogynistic culture’ that ‘thrives’ in their institutions.
Miss Moon, a former pupil at girls’ private school Benenden in Kent, said she was overwhelmed with responses after asking for testimonies on Instagram from females who had been harassed and assaulted by private schoolboys.
She compiled 95 harrowing accounts, including her own in which she detailed how she was assaulted by an Eton boy when she was 15. She told the Mail: ‘I was at a party with a bunch of Eton boys. Someone had rented ac com mod a insisted
‘Priority was to uphold reputation’
tion for a party on a beach with no parents for the whole weekend.
‘There was nowhere to go – we were sort of trapped in this house. One of the boys made a beeline for me and I tried to escape the room. He followed me out and grabbed me by the neck and choked me.’
She said he then indecently assaulted her and pestered her for the rest of the night.
Miss Moon added: ‘That’s five to seven hours of him relentlessly trying and me continuously saying I didn’t want to. All of the boys there were just being complicit in that and seeing what was happening.’
She said she did not take the incident to Benenden, Eton or police at the time, adding: ‘We weren’t really educated on what sexual assault was.’ Miss Moon, who now works for the Prince’s Trust youth charity, said there was ‘definitely’ a coverup culture at schools, stressing: ‘It just seems the priority was always to uphold their reputation.’ She there had been ‘multiple people’ who complained to schools but headteachers had not acted. Her dossier also contains allegations from female students at Bristol and Exeter universities.
Miss Moon’s letter said chauvinism ‘runs deep within the environment of private boys’ schools’. She added: ‘It is finally coming to attention how boys from the most elite schools and universities have mistreated girls for years and somehow got away with it. This ends now.’
An Eton spokesman said: ‘Criminal behaviour of this kind has no place in society. Eton always takes specific allegations such as this extremely seriously. Eton insists that all our pupils treat others with kindness, decency and respect.’ Nearly 11,000 allegations have now been made by school pupils on the Everyone’s Invited website. At least two top private schools have called in police.