Seeing an email entitled ‘Drinking and Socialising in College’ pop up on my laptop as I sat in the library immediately filled me with a sense of scepticism. After a stint of silence from both my college and the university regarding spiking, I wondered what it was they could finally be saying. As perhaps expected, the email placed the blame on individuals for being drunk and putting themselves in “risky situations”. Conflating issues of binge drinking and spiking, the college made the latter a result of the former, arguing excessive drinking leads a person to become “vulnerable to the manipulative or predatory behaviour of others.” Undeniably, the email accused the students of drinking too much and acting recklessly, inviting a person to spike us rather than condemning the perpetrators.

“Victim-blaming rhetoric already pervades society and many of the university’s responses to gender-based violence”

Stating that “there is no reason to believe that this is something that can only happen in city pubs and clubs, similar issues could certainly arise within the University,’ is not an effective way for the university to stop these events occurring. Instead of promising to put measures in place to keep us safe, the college has merely acknowledged that a spiking might and probably would occur. In a follow up Facebook (now Meta) post from the Porters’ Lodge, students were informed that “prevention HAS to start with you”. This initial statement is just a stone’s throw away from the victim-blaming rhetoric which already pervades society and many of the university’s responses to gender-based violence. Indeed, it appears the college is only too eager to hand out drink-cover-scrunchies, make us aware how many units of alcohol we should consume, and inform us that we should contact the police if we witness any evidence of spiking, rather than taking any responsibility upon themselves.

The constant reminders that we need to protect ourselves and our friends, makes those who may become a victim of the crime answerable in place of the criminals themselves. The survivors and their friends reading that email are highly likely to feel as though they were at fault. Of course, the only person who should feel guilty is the spiker; this was the message communicated to us by my college student union and FemSoc who ensured us that they condemned “the appalling behaviour and the perpetrators of such an act,” and assuring the survivors that “it is absolutely not your fault if you get spiked, nor is it the fault of your friends.” Nevertheless, the authority of the college washed their hands of liability, whilst responsibility fell upon other students — not professionally trained in sexual assault trauma, and with their own lives and degrees to worry about — to extend a listening ear.

“You should be able to get drunk or stay sober, and not get spiked”

Surely, there is not a person at university who is not aware of the risks that come with alcohol consumption, so an email reminding us of this seems to be merely performative. The majority of us don’t feel the desire to spike people after a few drinks, and spiking is not an incident exclusively related to alcohol consumption. It is perfectly possible for a person to be spiked on their first drink, whilst drinking a non-alcoholic drink, and now even with needles. It’s a myth that spiking only occurs in alcohol-induced states. You should be able to get drunk or stay sober, and not get spiked, and if you are, it’s not your fault.

After Durham University’s Student Wellbeing account came under media fire for victim-blaming rhetoric in a tweet: ‘Drink spiking is dangerous and something that you can prevent from happening to you and your friends #dontgetspiked,’ you would think that the college would more carefully consider the intention and implications of their email – especially as great care was taken to remove any gender identifiers from the message.

Whilst spiking can, of course, be done to anyone and by anyone, regardless of gender, it is undeniable that victims are more often women (with 71.6% of survivors being women in England and Wales, 81.8% in Scotland, and 67.9% in Northern Ireland), and perpetrators are more often cisgender men. The relentless stream of information on how women must protect themselves, after the murders of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa, continues to victim-blame, and though awareness of personal safety is important, there has been nowhere near as much messaging or visible effort to stop those with vicious intent.

The issue of gender-based violence does not go away after a week’s worth of headlines, so it’s about time people stop blaming alcohol for abuse, stop blaming survivors for their experiences and start holding perpetrators to account.