Ignorance of uni dangers for females is new Normal

NORMAL PEOPLE was hyped so much during lockdown that the whole world must know about the on-off romance between Connell and Marianne, two good-looking and intelligent Trinity students who hail from the same one-horse town in Ireland.

Trinity is the third character in the drama, like New York in Sex And The City. The camera sweeps over the buildings and the stunning Berkeley library with same languid pace as it captures the couple’s lengthy lovemaking, reminding us that campus life is not just about notches on the bedpost but the timeless virtues of knowledge and civilisation.

The Normal People camera ignores the seedy underbelly of student life and the dangers which campuses, even those as magnificent as Trinity, pose for female students in particular.

This was represented in a new survey of 6,000 students which reports that almost a third of females experience non-consensual sex due to force, the threat of force or while incapacitated and unable to give consent.

It also shows that a significant number of these incidents went unreported with victims not believing they were serious enough and less than 10% saying they knew how to report an incident.

The lack of awareness about consent in college is shocking, particularly in the aftermath of #MeToo which did so much to highlight harassment and sexual violence on the global stage.

How can we bring home the message to young men and women, many of whom are living away from home for the first time, about their right to safety and bodily integrity? Perhaps a gritty, realistic novel about college life would help.