Giorgia Magni is a doctoral student at the University of Geneva who’s researching into critical pedagogy and gender-specific violence in educational contexts. | Photo: Olivia de Villaine / 13 Photo

Giorgia Magni, in your thesis, you focus on gender-based violence among students. What kind of violence is that?

All types of violence that aim to maintain the power structures between genders. Or that punish those who transgress gender norms – such as violence against LGBTQ+ people. This violence can be physical, psychological, sexual or even economic.

Isn’t the expression ‘violence’ misleading if it’s not physical?

Gender-based violence needs to be understood not as isolated physical acts, but as part of a broader pattern that maintains patriarchal power. So even acts that seem minor, like sexist jokes, follow the same logic of domination.

Can you name some typical examples from what the students told you?

Some participants experienced sexual violence from a person in their classroom, like unwanted touching, unwelcome sexual advances, or sexual remarks about their bodies.

How did they react?

They developed coping strategies. They didn’t go to the class physically anymore. They arrived late and left early. They avoided activities and isolated themselves from their peers. This affected their motivation and results.

Your findings show that 59 percent of the students at the University of Geneva have experienced such violence. Were you surprised?

I had expected a big number, but not almost 60 percent. 53 percent of them were cisgender heterosexual women, 33 percent members of a sexual or gender minority (LGBTQ+), and 14 percent were cisgender heterosexual men.

Sexualised jokes are the main category, with 77 percent of students having experienced them. What exactly are we talking about here?

For example, guys bragging about how many women they will have that night. These jokes might not be explicitly about rape, but they still normalise a culture that can lead to behaviour such as touching someone without consent, or pressuring them for sex.  You also find indirect remarks, like a student who was constantly being asked: “You never show us your girlfriend. Are you gay?” Actually, he was indeed gay, but chose to hide it.

Your data shows that LGBTQ+ people are those most affected by gender-based violence. Who is committing it?

78.5 percent of the perpetrators are men, 21 percent are women, and less than 1 percent are non-binary people.

Your results show that gender-based violence is common in every faculty.

Some disciplines like law are becoming more feminine, but the sexist culture hasn’t really changed. A study from 2019 showed that female students were harassed during their internships at law firms. One male law student I interviewed told me that lecturers never addressed these findings and left female students unprepared to deal with such situations.

Science was very masculine for a long time, too …

Yes, it is pretty much the same in biology. There are more and more female researchers, but the culture is still very masculine.  Female students get harassed and pushed to leave the faculty. Some participants reported hiding that they were homosexual or bisexual.

And how is it in the humanities?

People play with stereotypes. One student, for example, wrote sexualised poems to another. Philosophical debates on sensitive topics such as same-sex marriage can also be problematic. A professor might argue that debating is a skill that students have to learn. But if there are no rules, then anyone can say whatever they want, no matter how discriminatory it may be.

What can the university authorities do?

Students have to learn to debate critically, but professors must draw a line between opinion and hate speech. Debates on same-sex marriage often lead to claims that sexual minorities are abnormal. If you don’t challenge this, then you’re normalising discrimination.