Soma Sara, the creator of a site that highlights the “culture of rape” in British schools, says she is surprised by the breadth of the movement.
Having collected more than 13,000 overwhelming testimonials, he calls for “stamping out” sexual misconduct.
Soma Sara, 22, founded the website “Everyone’s Invited” in June 2020, after reporting her own experience of constant sexual harassment on Instagram.
“It began during my adolescence,” she explains in an interview with AFP near her London apartment. “It seemed almost impossible for me to grow and evolve in an environment where, in my opinion, the culture of rape was widespread.”
After some positive reactions, “I felt like I was not alone,” she adds.
Like the #MeToo movement for women, its website has released the word of young women about events that often go unpunished, within the framework of the UK school environment.
Education Minister Gavin Williamson has called these accusations “scandalous and heinous” and his ministry has contacted “Everyone’s Invited.”
– Reveal the culture of rape –
Now it records thousands of anonymous testimonies, especially from girls, who say they have been confronted with misogynistic words, unsolicited touching or rapes, committed by classmates or teachers.
For some, it is the first time they express themselves. “Our initial objective was to reveal the culture of rape and I have the impression that, in some way, we have succeeded,” estimates Soma Sara.
“This is crazy. It is extraordinary to see all these reactions, and to see that the British media are so supportive of this cause,” she said. “understand that it is a problem or even a reality”.
– Universal phenomenon –
Many of the testimonies refer to sexual assaults when the victims were drunk or committed by trusted persons.
Many of the victims reproach themselves for what happened and never reported the events or, when they did, they have been called liars or “bit-hes.”
For Soma Sara, this shows that “we live in a culture of shame that stigmatizes sexual violence.”
The complaints have multiplied especially since the disappearance and death of Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old Londoner, who deeply shocked the country and started a debate on violence against women.
A London policeman was charged with kidnapping and murder.
Initially, the media had been particularly interested in the prestigious private schools mentioned in “Everyone’s Invited.”
But Soma Sara, who attended a boarding school for celebrity daughters in central England, Wycombe Abbey, the phenomenon is universal and “not limited to the UK”.
“I really would like this to be raised internationally,” she says, calling on teenage girls to have the “courage” to report such behavior.