Two former Geelong Grammar students share experiences of alleged sexual assault

Two young women have added their voices to a petition calling for sexual assault being added to school curriculum, sharing their experiences during their time at an elite Victorian private school.

Geelong Grammar School.

Two young women from Victoria’s most prestigious private school have added their stories to a petition pushing for sexual consent to be included in the school curriculum.

The former students from Geelong Grammar in 2014 and 2017 anonymously posted about their experiences of being sexually assaulted – in one case by another student from the school.

One who finished at the school in 2014 said she “blacked out at a party and came to on a bench with my boyfriend (assaulting) me and kissing my neck incessantly”.

“He also left my house that night when I wasn’t ready to have sex with him the first time under the pretence of ‘why aren’t you ready’,” she wrote.

The second girl finished at the school in 2017 and detailed a rape that took place at the end of year ten.

She said she went to a house at the beach with a friend in the year above and “got black out drunk for the first time and woke up” to find herself being assaulted.

“Three years later I found out he had done it a few times to his ex girl friend,” she wrote.

She gave another example of going home with a male friend last year who tried to have sex with her even though she was very drunk.

“After 30 mins of him getting on top of me, trying to have sex with me, molesting me and me pushing him off and trying to move away i was too tired to fight anymore and let it happen,” she wrote.

“A month ago I find out hes raped and assaulted countless women.”

The petition now includes more than 2000 disturbing stories of alleged assaults involving students, mostly at NSW’s top private schools.

It was started by Chanel Contos, a former student of Sydney’s exclusive Kambala School, after she heard many stories of sexual assaults through her student networks.

Many of the girls report being raped while very drunk or unconscious, forced to perform other non-consensual sexual acts and waking up to being touched inappropriately.

The petition reads: “the following testimonies were sent to me by those who passionately believe that inadequate consent education is reason for their sexual abuse during or soon after school”.

More than 16,000 people have now signed it.

In Victoria, sexual consent is taught in the Respectful Relationships curriculum, although students don’t learn any details until they reach year 11 and 12.

By this point they learn that consent cannot be given by someone who is asleep, unconscious or affected by alcohol.

The 2017 National Community Attitudes towards Violence Against Women Survey data showed that seven per cent of Australians wrongly believe that if a woman does not physically resist, she cannot be considered to have been raped.

Sixteen per cent believe that many allegations of sexual assault by women are false.

Rebecca Cody, principal of Geelong Grammar, said the “safety and welfare of students is Geelong Grammar School’s highest priority and we can assure all past and present students that we are here to listen, and we have programs in place to provide independent, confidential counselling and support.

“At GGS we begin formal education regarding consent and positive and respectful relationships at Year 7 within our curriculum, with the support of external experts such as BraveHearts. This education continues right through every student’s time with us,” she said.