exeposé
FR
Officially the UK’s Best Student Publication
E
E
ISSUE 715 8 FEB 2021 exepose.com @Exepose
THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1987
Street harassment and stalking reports double since 2016
BAME Counselling service introduced after Wellbeing difficulties Bryony Gooch Editor
T
HE University of Exeter have introduced long-awaited BAME counselling support to its wellbeing services. This new service is available via the Bristol-based counselling service Nilaari who offer culturally appropriate counselling support for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people. Nilaari offers a range of therapies for those experiencing stress, worry, general anxiety, depression, low self esteem and low confidence. Students who sign up for the service can receive up to six free counselling sessions as agreed with the counsellor. Exeposé spoke to BAME students about their experiences with Wellbeing so far. One recent graduate spoke of their experience of the University’s Wellbeing service before the introduction of Nilaari: “I had contacted Wellbeing many times and nothing was going anywhere… I wasn’t getting replies to my emails or I was getting sent pamphlets. So I went to my doctor and she sped up the Wellbeing process. “I literally didn’t get an ILP for ages. It took so long for some reason. I asked for it in January of first year and didn’t receive it ‘til the second half of second year. “I started doing CBT with the Wellbeing service in first year. Even when
• Charged offenders drops to 7 per cent • Reports peaked at 442 in 2019 • 76 per cent of victims are female EXCLUSIVE Emily Im News Editor
A
CCORDING to data obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, reports of street harassment and stalking in Exeter have more than doubled over the last five years. Devon and Cornwall Police recorded 200 street harassment reports in 2016. By 2020, the figure increased to 431, although reports peaked in 2019 at 442. Stalking reports also went up from 10 to 79 - an almost eight-times increase. The total number of harassment victims rose from 180 to 355, but there were 58 stalking victims last year com-
pared to just seven, four years prior. The majority of victims for street harassment and stalking are female - an average of 76 per cent across the period. However, there has been a decline in offenders charged for harassment: 28 per cent were convicted in 2016 and only seven per cent last year. This can be partly attributed to the fact that some investigations are still ongoing. Of 2016’s harassment offenders, 92 per cent were male. As for stalking, all of the offenders over the last five years were male. Every year, the most commonly reported form of street harassment is harassment without violence and the same can be said for stalking. Exeposé spoke to the student community about their experiences of har-
CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
FEATURES Celebrating formative events in LGBTQ+ History PAGe 10
Image: karolina-grabowska (Pexels)
CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
Image: Pete Syme
MUSIC
A Valentine’s playlist for your sweetheart PAGe 19
SCIENCE What can we learn from Octopuses?
Image: pen_ash (Pixabay)
PAGE 27