Everyone's Invited: Survivor testimonies lead to police investigations into school rape culture
Everyone’s Invited is a movement started on Instagram by, then student, Soma Sara, back in June 2020. When she shared her personal experiences of rape culture online, she was inundated by messages from those with similar experiences. With consent from those who contacted her, Soma began to share these experiences anonymously via the Instagram platform. In the first week, she had shared over 300 testimonials to an audience of 10,000.
Over the past 12 months, the movement has snowballed to the point that Soma is now creating a task force to investigate rape culture in UK schools. The task force is potentially going to include ‘state and private school leaders and heads, social services, police and child psychologists’ to ensure a comprehensive investigation is achieved.
By the end of last week, there was over 5,800 submitted testimonials of current and historical instances of rape and other sexual offences. Many of these testimonials named specific schools, with over 100 being named before the site stopped publishing these details. In response, the Met police have stated that officers have been making contact with the named schools to offer specialist support to victims.
In a statement given on the Met’s website, Detective Superintendent Mel Laremore said:
“We welcome any initiative which encourages any victim-survivor of a sexual offence to speak out and seek support. It is deeply concerning to see the number of accounts published on this website, many of which appear to relate to previous or current experiences within educational settings in London and across the country.
“We take all allegations of sexual assault very seriously. We understand the complex and varied reasons why many victim-survivors do not contact law enforcement, but I want to personally reassure anyone who needs our help that we are absolutely here for you.
“We’re working closely with school staff to ensure anyone who may have been a victim-survivor of sexual assault and feels able and willing to report to us can do so.
“It’s apparent some of the incidents referred to on this website may have occurred some years ago. Regardless of how long ago an offence took place, I would like to remind any victim-survivor that support is available for you should you wish to speak to us.
The police have since added a link to the Everyone’s Invited site allowing individuals to report their experiences directly to them.
Norfolk Police Chief and head of Operation Hydrant, Simon Bailey believes that easily accessible pornography is a contributor to this epidemic of sexual violence. By warping young people’s ideals of what constitutes a healthy sexual relationship it has created a culture “whereby in the minds of some people it is acceptable to treat young women in particular in a manner that we are now seeing' reported on Everyone's Invited.”
Bailey believes this is a watershed moment for the UK education sector, similar to what was seen in the 2016 inquiry into sexual abuse within UK football. When a small number of victims spoke up it emboldened others to share their experiences and strengthening the movement. Bailey said he fully expected the allegations to continue and that a hotline was being set up for people to contact the police directly.
Until the national hotline has been set up, the police urge anyone with information about an offence to get in touch. They should contact police on 101, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.