Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett’s article about 2000s misogyny and rape culture strongly reminded me of my own experiences as a young student at a Russell Group university between 2004 and 2008 (The 2000s lad culture that Russell Brand epitomised wasn’t funny then. It looks even more hideous with hindsight, 21 September).
It was rare to have a night out without being groped by multiple men. During freshers’ week, I was sexually assaulted on a packed dancefloor. My first boyfriend was an emotionally and physically abusive gaslighter, who used to body-shame me. In my final year, living in a flat of boys was an incredibly grim education in how some men speak about and treat women (one of them referred to women as “slits”).
