Why is SCREW Week problematic?

• The name is insensitive, inappropriate and invalidates individuals’ lived experience of sexual assault.
• The rhetoric used in the post completely undermines and devalues the weight of the NSSS and the experiences of UWA and Australian students by calling students to ‘celebrate’ and participate in a ‘festival’. Sexual assault and sexual violence is an incredibly serious topic, and the tone and lexicon employed in the event description and promotion profoundly invalidates the experiences of those who are most vulnerable.
• This is further exacerbated by the timing of the Guild’s event release which is very closely aligned with the announcement of the NSSS severely concerning results, especially in UWA, demonstrating a complete lack of sensitivity and understanding of the weight and significance of the issue.
• Screw week is littered with euphemisms which furthermore neglects the seriousness of what holistic sex education should be about.

Why is Consent Cupcakes problematic?

• This event egregiously correlates the incredibly sensitive, important and nuanced nature of consent and sexual assault with cupcake decoration which completely demeans and devalues the experiences of individuals with lived experienced.
• Turning consent into a game that can be played is not only incredibly insensitive but furthers the insidious narrative that devalues the weight of sexual assault and damaging repercussions it has on individuals and our larger student population.
• Our experiences are NOT a cooking class. 
• The Women’s Department and UWA Student Guild have invested their time in devaluing and demeaning our experience instead of working on actual structural change that will improve the reporting mechanisms and accessibility of support around our campus and for those who are most vulnerable.

UWA and the NSSS

• UWA ranks fourth worst in prevalence for sexual harassment and sixth for sexual assault.
• 21.4% of UWA student surveyed had been sexually harassed and 6.9% sexually assaulted since starting university. Formal complaints were only made by 3.4% of of those who were sexually harassed.
• After five years, UWA has failed to improve student understanding of how to make a complaint about sexual assault. Over 50% of those surveyed had little to no knowledge about this process.
• Awareness and knowledge of where to seek support for harassment has decreased, with almost 56% of students having little or no knowledge.

Students have contacted the Women’s Department who have apologised and recognised the problematic nature of the event but have taken no further action to remove or stop the event from proceeding.

WE DEMAND NOW:

IMMEDIATE REMOVAL OF THE NAME ‘SCREW Week’.
IMMEDIATE APOLOGY FOR THE HARM CAUSED BY USING RHETORIC INCLUDING ‘CONSENT CUPCAKES’.

WE DEMAND STRUCTURAL CHANGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO:

• Improve accessible, effective and anonymous reporting systems for all
  students and staff.
• Improve and enforce evidence based “zero tolerance” sexual
  harassment policies that quickly and appropriately respond to reports of sexual harassment without impacting upon the progression of students.
• Undertake regular evaluations of current sexual harassment reporting structures and policies to improve holistic systems and protection mechanisms for students at UWA.