美国国家公共电台 NPR How Can We Stop Sexual Assault At Music Festivals? One Group Says, Start By Educating

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How Can We Stop Sexual Assault At Music Festivals? One Group Says, Start By Educating

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Summer is a time for music festivals around the world, with thousands of people gathering¹ to enjoy their favorite bands and musicians. But in Sweden last month, police say there were more than 50 cases of rape² and sexual assault at two major festivals there. Sexual violence has been reported for decades at large outdoor concerts, including here in the U.S. And now in the U.K., some county officials are trying to do something about it.

David Huggins is one of those officials. He's the domestic abuse coordinator³ with the Isle⁴ of Wight Council in the U.K., where two popular festivals - the Isle of Wight Festival and Bestival - are held every year. We caught up with David Huggins and asked how their operations work on the ground.

DAVID HUGGINS: Yeah, so what we do - we have volunteers that work at our local hospital in the sexual health clinic and an organization called Southampton Rape Crisis. So on any day when we're at the events we'll have probably four members of our team working at any one time. We'll have a static unit in a tent where we have information we can give to festival goers.

But we want to make it a bit of fun as well, so we make bracelets⁵ which have messages on it, things like love doesn't hurt, no means no. So it's an engagement process where you can get festival goers to come along, ask what we're doing. They sit down and they start making some beads⁶ or bracelets, we start talking, and you raise awareness⁷ through that medium.

CHANG: There are about 100,000 people that come regularly to those two major festivals in the Isle of Wight. Have there ever been any cases of sexual assault at either of those events?

HUGGINS: The most recent one, the Isle of Wight Festival, which was held back in early June - and that was a four-day event. And throughout the duration of the four days we just had one incident reported to the police, which was an over-clothing touch - touching⁸. That was the only case that was reported.

CHANG: Do you think there's a problem with underreporting, that some women feel that they have been sexually assaulted but because they can't identify their attacker in a crowd, they don't even bother reporting the incident?

HUGGINS: I know - we know here in the U.K. around 15 percent of victims of serious sexual assault will come forward and actually report these incidents to the police. So we know that the vast majority don't make any report at all. I mean - and that's the whole purpose that - why we exist at two these festivals, is to encourage reporting and reassuring⁹ people that they have time to make a decision, you know, but at least we can give them some good advice.

CHANG: And how are other music festivals trying to deal with this? Do you know?

HUGGINS: I know that we are unique in the U.K. I mean, the biggest pop festival, probably, in U.K. is Glastonbury. They certainly have no awareness-raising program in relation to rape and serious sexual assault. And there is a reluctance¹⁰ by festival organizers to...

CHANG: ...Why is that? Why is there a reluctance, do you think?

HUGGINS: Because I think that they believe that there will be a stigma¹¹ attached to their festival if they're raising awareness of rape and serious sexual assault, that people will think, you know, are we going to be safe going to that event? Here on the Isle of Wight, the organizers of the Isle of Wight Festival and Bestival, they've been really pleased with the way we've been able to engage with festival goers and make it a safe festival. And so in time, hopefully we can spread the word that other festivals on the mainland - in the U.K., at least - will have a similar approach.

CHANG: David Huggins is the domestic abuse coordinator with the Isle of Wight Council. David, thanks so much for being with us.

HUGGINS: Thank you very much for inviting¹² me.