Labor MP Stella Creasy has claimed she was subjected to sexual harassment and threats of rape when she was a student politician at Cambridge University.
Ms Creasy said she was “warned” by college authorities after reporting the alleged abuse in the 1990s.
She said sexual harassment remains an issue in universities and “this culture” is not exclusive to Parliament.
The behavior of some male MPs has come under scrutiny following a spate of misconduct allegations.
In an interview with GB News, Ms Creasy, the Walthamstow MP and a prominent women’s rights campaigner, said it was the first time she had spoken out about the alleged abuse she was subjected to at the university.
Cambridge University said in a statement it was “extremely regrettable to hear of the horrific ordeal Stella Creasy has endured” and that it had taken steps to improve support for victims in recent years.
- Does Parliament have a problem with misogyny?
- Some men in politics behave like animals – ministers
- “My political career was taken away from me”
The MP said her first experience of sexual harassment was during her freshman year at Magdalene College. She said it took place from 1996 to 1998 and included a campaign of offensive posters when she was running for the role of president of the college’s student council.
Ms Creasy told GB News: “I will never forget the night I was in the same room with them all and they threatened to rape me, not to mention the posters they put up around the college when I had the audacity to campaign for a position in the fraternity where people were asked not to vote for me because of who I had slept with, and that was done at a college in Cambridge.
In the interview with broadcaster and former Labor MP Gloria De Piero, Ms Creasy said she was scolded by the college authorities when she lodged a complaint.
“I was stopped and reprimanded by the college authorities at the time because they chose to believe the idea that I was probably ‘an unfairly treated woman,'” Ms. Creasy said.
“And, like I said, it took public humiliation and placards and eventually other people coming forward and me to gather the evidence – from all the notes, the spitting in my room, the rubbish thrown at me the sexual abuse and harassment when I tried to go into the bar that came from this group of young men.”
Ms Creasy, who studied social and political science at Cambridge, said she remains “terrified” of seeing the men who allegedly abused her.
“I’m in my mid-40s now and it’s the first time I’m really ready to talk about it.
“It was terrifying at the time, I’m scared I’ll ever meet these young men again.
“And I say that because a few years after I left university, that’s exactly what I did — I went to a bar and they were all sitting there, and I collapsed inside and left as soon as I could.”
Ms Creasy, who entered the House of Commons in 2010 and has campaigned for maternity leave for MPs, said the abuse will always affect her.
“But one of the things I want to say to women who have experienced these things in life and to women in Parliament now is that you will find allies, you will find those of us who are willing to stand by you because we know what it is, we know how hard it is and we know the impact it can have on you,” she said.
She said there was a “privilege and entitlement” in Parliament, where politicians had recently exchanged allegations of misconduct.
A spokesman for Cambridge University said: “Sexual harassment of any kind has absolutely no place at the university.
“The University has taken significant steps in recent years to support victims of sexual misconduct, improve incident reporting systems and take appropriate action.
“We urge anyone who experiences any form of harassment or abuse to report it so that support can be offered and action taken.”
Add Comment