Farmers frequently seek public empathy for the struggles they face producing the nation’s food. But they’ve been shot in the foot by their own this week as the lid was blown off what goes on among Young Farmers, with stomach-turning headlines about sexual assault being commonplace in their social events. Women in farming then spoke out about misogyny, harassment and sexism being widespread in the industry, enflaming an already critical situation and any empathy withered.
Accounts of young farmers habitually treating women as sex objects, groping, grabbing, pulling up skirts, pulling down tops, verbal and sexual abuse in a revolting boorish heavy drinking and casual sex culture and revelling in it were sickening. Women who object are labelled frigid and boring. They also spoke of non-consensual recording and sharing of sexual acts.
What the hell is going on in this parallel universe of farming? Living by a different set of rules to the rest of us, clearly. Sexual assault is a crime. Because farmers believe they are different and turning a blind eye to criminal behaviour and totally unacceptable conduct in a civilised society must be called out and stopped.
It takes a lot to be shocked and outraged today, but these accounts achieved both. There’s much talk about rural isolation. It is no excuse for this type of behaviour going unchecked.
It needs serious investigation now, a zero-tolerance policy publicly declared and previous offenders called to account by the women who .