Stella Creasy says she remains “terrified” of seeing the men who allegedly harassed her in the 1990s.
Labour MP Stella Creasy has alleged she was subjected to sexual harassment and threats of rape as a student politician at Cambridge University.
Ms Creasy said she was “admonished” by college authorities after reporting the alleged abuse in the 1990s.
She said sexual harassment remains an issue in universities and “that culture” was not unique to Parliament.
The behaviour of some male MPs has come under scrutiny after a series of misconduct allegations.
In an interview with GB News, Ms Creasy, the MP for Walthamstow and a prominent campaigner for women’s rights, said she was speaking out about the alleged abuse she received at university for the first time.
Cambridge University said in a statement that it was “extremely sorry to hear of the horrific ordeal which Stella Creasy experienced”, and it had taken action in recent years to improve support for victims.
The MP said her first experience of sexual harassment was during her first year at Magdalene College. She said it took place from 1996 to 1998 and included a campaign of abusive posters when she ran for the role of president of the college’s student council.
Ms Creasy told GB News: “I’ll never forget the night that I was in a room with them all and they threatened to gang rape me, let alone the posters that they put up around the college when I had the temerity to stand for a position in the student union, telling people not to vote for me because of who I’d slept with, and that happened at a Cambridge college.”
‘A wronged woman’
In the interview with broadcaster and former Labour MP Gloria De Piero, Ms Creasy said she was reprimanded by college authorities when she made a complaint.
“I was held up and I was admonished by the college authorities at the time because they chose to believe the idea that I was probably ‘a wronged woman’,” Ms Creasy said.
“And, as I say, it took public humiliation, and posters, and finally other people coming forward, and me collating the evidence – of all the notes, the spitting in my room, the rubbish that was thrown at me, the sexual abuse and harassment if I tried to walk into the bar, that came from this group of young men.”
Image source, PA Media
Ms Creasy, who studied social and political sciences at Cambridge, said she remained “terrified” of seeing the men who allegedly abused her.
“I’m in my mid-40s now and it’s the first time I’ve really felt even willing to talk about it.
“It was terrifying at the time, I’m terrified I’ll ever run into those young men again.
“And I say that because, several years after I left university, I did exactly that – I walked into a bar and they were all sat there, and I collapsed inside and left as soon as I could.”
Ms Creasy, who entered the Commons in 2010 and has campaigned for maternity leave for MPs, has said the abuse will always affect her.
“But one of the things I want to say to women who have experienced those things in life and to the women in Parliament now, is that you will find allies, you will find those of us prepared to stand with you because we know what it’s like, we know how hard it is and we know the impact it can have on you,” she said.
University ‘action’
She said there was a “privilege and entitlement” in Parliament, where politicians have recently been sharing allegations of misconduct.
A Cambridge University spokesman said: “Sexual harassment of any sort has absolutely no place at the university.
“In recent years the university has taken significant steps in order to provide support for victims of sexual misconduct, to improve systems for reporting any incidents, and to take action as a result.
“We urge anyone who experiences any form of harassment or abuse to report it so that they can be offered support and action can be taken.”
