Gender based violence in university communities: policy, prevention and educational interventions in Britain

<p>This chapter draws upon the ‘Stand Together’ action research project at the University of Lincoln in the United Kingdom and of the research conducted as part of this project. The ‘Stand Together’ project implemented and researched one of the first whole-university approaches to challenge gender-based violence (GBV) and violence-tolerant social norms in student communities. The research, in turn, was designed to explore the potential of prevention education/bystander intervention programmes, as well as to investigate students’ attitudes to issues related to GBV. This chapter draws on qualitative interviews with 28 students as well as participant observation of the various dimensions of the programme to reflect on some of the key challenges and potential of prevention education in a university context. It explores themes around masculinity and violence in the context of particular manifestations of GBV in student communities, and the possibilities and complexity of challenging gendered attitudes, behaviours and the broader cultural norms underpinning them. It also analyses the role of the night-time economy as a space where gender norms and everyday forms of GBV are re-inscribed, negotiated and resisted.</p>