Ex-British MP reveals 'nice, young friend' at LSE almost raped her

 

Liberal Democrat Jo Swinson — a Member of Parliament (MP) in East Dunbartonshire — disclosed to a British media outlet an incident during her university years, back in the 1990s, when she was almost raped by a friend.

The former British MP, who was 19 years old at the time, explained how she was shocked that her friend was unable to understand refusal and the concept of consent.

“I could hardly believe that this guy, who was a nice guy with whom I got on well, was not responding to me saying ‘No’ and trying to push him off,” she told the Daily Mail.

“I was really under threat. I was physically pushing him away and saying, ‘I do not want to do it’.”

It was only when Swinson yelled at the man, who she chose not to name, that he was about to sexually assault her that he realized what he was about to do.

“He was about to do something horrendous and I managed to get him to stop. I told him, ‘If you make me, that’s rape’.

“If I hadn’t had my wits about me and been more afraid or fearful, who knows what might have happened? There were plenty of women I knew in my year who were much less assertive than I was.

“At the time, it was a desperate attempt to guarantee my safety. The words seemed to finally bring him to his senses and he stopped.”

'No' was not enough

Swinson went on to talk about how sexual harassment and assault is not divided in a black-and-white manner and that, a lot of times, it is someone the victim or survivor is close to and trusts.

“There is this view among many that this violence against women is something which is sort of the stranger leaping out of the dark alley, or a whole different series of horrible people that they wouldn’t have anything to do with.

“I could very easily see how rape could happen and the rapist could be a nice young man who would not consider that would be something he could do. Until I’d used the word ‘rape’, he didn’t realise that was the situation, so somehow me saying “No” and pushing him off was not computing in his brain.

In a book she has authored, the Liberal Democrat politician discusses issues that women face, including gender pay gap, harassment and abuse, and everyday sexism.

“One in four women studying at university has suffered unwanted physical sexual advances. Most people who are raped are [assaulted] by people they know.”

Swinson said she supports any governmental effort to challenge university-level rape culture and sexual education classes. She also noted that Nottinghamshire authorities set up a programme in 2017 to help women “report misogyny-fuelled abuse as a hate crime”.

This included street harassment, verbal abuse, wolf-whistling, and being photographed without consent.