FESTIVAL PEST HELL
Demand for action over secret sex attacks toll
ONE in five Brits has been sexually assaulted or harassed at a festival.
And the figure rises to one in three for women and 43% for female under 40s.
Campaigners said the figures – the first ever study into the problem – should be a wake-up call for the festival industry to start treating sexual violence seriously.
Tracey Wise, of campaigners Safe Gigs For Women, said: “We have struggled to find definite statistics on this before now.
“It gives us something to show to festival organisers so we can say: ‘You need to take this on board.’”
Just 2% of people report incidents to police, the survey by You Gov showed.
The poll also found strangers were to blame in 70% of cases.
Beth Granter was 17 when a man flashed her at Reading Festival.
She said: “I didn’t tell anybody because it didn’t seem unusual.
“I was unfortunately used to men getting drunk and waving their penises around at parties, so one doing it at a festival was no different. It is so common. Festivals could do more with security.”
Jen Calleja, of the Good Night Out Campaign, called the research “shocking but not surprising”.
Organisers of events including the major Glastonbury, Creamfields and Reading and Leeds festivals declined to comment.