Founder of Everyone’s Invited, Soma Sara, Discussed Her Fight Against Rape Culture and Sexual Assault in the UK at the Cambridge Union
In an intimate conversation with one of the UK’s most popular activists, the university debating society discussed important issues surrounding the current rape culture and the need to destigmatise sexual violence.
By Gretel Cuevas
The 22-year-old activist, recognised for her work to improve the situation of victims of sexual violence in the UK, Soma Sara, spoke to the students at the Cambridge Union Society on February 4. The activist addressed the culture of abuse and harassment that has led to deep impacts on the lives of both men and women and society at large. Sharing her profound personal experiences surrounding sexual harassment and her initiative that opens anonymous spaces for survivors of sexual violence to share their stories, the activist opened an intimate conversation with students to reflect on rape and sexual harassment as structural problems where we all have responsibility.
Sara’s activism started during her last year of university and during the first year of the Pandemic when the activist realised through a series of conversations with friends that rape culture was a systemic and widespread problem across the UK. It was then when Soma started sharing her experiences through Instagram that her story resonated with millions of young people who also started sharing their stories on social media. Everyone’s Invited, a charity in 2022, emerged as a response to Sara’s need to heal and share her story and transformed into a social movement that gained traction through social media.
Holly Sheridan, Easter Term Equalities Officer, interviewing Soma, asked the activist what led her to start her movement. “I realised culture of abuse and harassment really did have a profound and severe impact on my mental health and my confidence in my relations over time”, Sara stated. Then, she decided to use her voice using the tools available to her, leading to a national conversation that transformed into a media phenomenon that brought to light the severe structural problems that come with rape culture.
For Soma, “Rape culture is when beliefs and attitudes in society normalise and trivialise sexual violence in the language, in the media, in the cultural narratives.”
Sara also shared a fragment of her recently published book, ‘Everyone’s Invited.’ The collection of essays explores topics surrounding our normalised culture of harassment and rape, such as the influence of porn on our sexual lives and the intersection between abuse and misogyny, among many other issues related to gender.
When the interviewer opened the floor, a student brought up the role of anonymity in the movement. Compared to movements such as MeToo, Everyone’s Invited wasn’t focused on accusing particular individuals but rather opened anonymous spaces for catharsis and reflection that lead to collective healing by encouraging compassion and empathy with both men and women. “Sexual violence is a universal experience, and feminism is for both men and women. It’s for equality,” she stated while highlighting that her movement aimed to expand the scope of movements addressing sexual violence and understand that tackling rape culture needs to happen at a societal level and with holistic approaches.
The event ended with a first-year student sharing that she was a part of one of the main programs of Everyone’s Invited, which was implemented in high schools in the last couple of years, demonstrating the enormous impact that Sara’s initiative has had in the last two years since the movement was launched.
As the first event with a young activist, the conversation opened spaces to think about the long road ahead that we have, as societies, communities, and individuals, to continue fighting against forms of sexual harassment and violence that we have come to normalise.
Gretel was a 2020 Watson Fellow, developing an international journalism project across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. She is currently pursuing an MPhil in Development Studies at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge.
Edited by Neelkabir Varsha Kapil
