Rape report: ‘I felt sick’

Parents praise girls’ school’s stance in releasing sexual harassment survey

Parents of a girl at Christchurch Girls’ High School have applauded the school’s bravery while challenging boys’ schools to lead the change in sexual behaviour.

Three female students at CGHS have laid complaints with police over sexual harassment they have experienced after the release of a schoolwide survey on Monday.

In the survey, more than 20 students alleged they had been raped.

“It’s horrendous. A horrendous statistic but it doesn’t surprise me,” the father of a pupil told the Herald on Sunday.

“When I got the page of the unreported rapes, I just felt sick,” his wife said.

“My initial response was, is one of my daughters one of those victims?”

Their daughter was not one of those claiming to be raped but the student said the detailed stories released as part of the survey were “hard to read”.

“All the rape stuff, like the girl and the boyfriend — someone who she trusted — then bringing all his other friends into the room and taking turns. I would never ever have even thought about that,” she said.

‘You kind of know who to stay away from, who to keep your friends away from if they are drunk at parties and stuff.”

More than 1000 students attend Christchurch Girls’ High School, a public school on the doorstep of Hagley Park, steeped in history and tradition and in demand by parents.

A total of 725 girls, aged between 12 and 18, took part in the first survey of its kind into sexual harassment suffered by high school girls. It found more than 60 per cent had experienced sexual harassment, a quarter of victims more than 10 times.

The offenders were mostly lone males but a quarter were groups of boys. The incidents regularly occurred at weekend parties, on the streets or on public transport.

“We don’t send our girls off to school to be harassed,” the mother said.

But that hasn’t stopped their daughter being harassed almost daily on the bus home from school.

“Our girls changed buses because they didn’t like going on that bus that goes past Boys’ High because it was packed with boys and it was the intimidation,” her mum said.

“You know, looks and gestures and comments.”

Instead of taking the quickest bus home she now takes an alternative route that takes an hour longer.

The survey results were shared with the school by the principal.

“The principal told the girls how proud she was that we had been honest through the survey,” the student said.

It was emailed home to students’ parents and guardians.

“To me it highlights to the boys’ school that they need a lot more education,” the father says. “When someone gets on the bus and you give her lip — we don’t need that.

“[Rugby players] are chest-beating silverbacks and they want to outdo each other. We have got to get past putting these guys up as superstars.”

We don’t send our girls off to school to be harassed. Student’s mother