Ashley James has claimed that a male teacher once told her he'd thought about her 'mud wrestling naked' when she was just 15 years old.
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The TV personality and activist, 38, has written a new book called Bimbo in which she unpacks labels placed on women by society and dissects patriarchal systems and language.
Appearing on the Made by Mammas podcast on Tuesday, Ashley opened up about sexism and harassment she faced at her school - an all-boys school of which she was one of just 37 women recently enrolled.
Ashley revealed that one of the male teachers at her school once came up to her and told her he and his friends had 'come up with a game' in which they had imagined her mud wrestling while naked.
The This Morning presenter, who was just 15 years old at the time, said: 'I tell the story in bimbo. But I even had a male teacher say to me and my friend when we were 15 and say "Oh yeah, I just went for lunch with the boys, and we've come up with a new game".
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'"We decided that we're going to do mud wrestling and we're going to slide you and your friend in the mud naked and see who can go the furthest".
Ashley James has claimed that a male teacher once told her he'd thought about her 'mud wrestling naked' when she was just 15 years old (Seen in September)
Appearing on the Made by Mammas podcast on Tuesday, Ashley opened up about sexism and harassment she faced at her school (Seen in 2024)
'A teacher said that. And we were 15.'
She went on to say that it was not an isolated incident of harassment, revealing the older boys at her school would target young girls and tackle them to pull their trousers down.
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In a stark admission Ashley recalled being terrified if she was on her period or hadn't shaved and remembered having to run and crawl into the fetal position holding on to her trousers.
'I don't even think I remember to put this in the book, or maybe I did, but they had this thing called de-kegging,' she said.
'Oh yeah. So basically, we could be coming back from hockey, and the boys usually the first 15 rugby team. So you know, like the biggest rugby-esque boys who were much older than you, they would basically pick a girl, and they would basically charge at them and try and pull their pants down. And that's called de-kegging.
'But if we screamed or laugh, because sometimes you laugh in like, awkwardness, we'd get in trouble, because the teachers would be like, stop seeking attention.'
She continued: 'And I remember, like, one time being on my period. So I must have been like, 15/16. I was on my period, and I also, like, hadn't shaved, which, when you're like, 40, like 15/16, was like, the worst thing ever.
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'And I remember thinking, "Oh, my God, if they pull my pants down there, like, what if my tampon string or my pad is showing and, like, haven't shaved".
Ashley revealed that one of the male teachers at her school once came up to her and told her he and his friends had 'come up with a game' in which they had imagined her mud wrestling while naked (Seen in June)
In a stark admission Ashley recalled being terrified if she was on her period or hadn't shaved and remembered having to run and crawl into the fetal position holding on to her trousers
'And I just remember, like, the fear of... I have to try and run, and then being in the recovery position, trying to cling on to my tracksuit bottoms as they would try to get them down.'
Calling out double standards at her school, Ashley added: 'That was like the environment and and obviously, rather than shutting down that kind of conversation around the boys. Or there's other stories.
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'I remember a guy pulled a Mooney, which is when you pull your pants down, yeah? And so one of the girls flashed her Tweety Pie bra.
'We were told like "boys can get away with that. You have to be learn to be a lady, and that is not an appropriate way to respond as a lady". So I think it was all very confusing.'
It comes after Ashley revealed for the first time that she was raped by a male friend when she was a 21-year-old student at Nottingham University.
She bravely recalled the rape in her new book, Bimbo, explaining it occurred after a night out at a club with pals, and she'd been unconscious.
Writing how the assault had been 'one of the very worst moments of my life', she described 'the shame and silence' she lived with afterwards and voiced her hope it would 'change the conversation' around rape and victim blaming.
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Ashley explained she didn't report what happened because her attacker had been a friend rather than 'a stranger in a dark alley', which made it harder for her to accept he was a rapist, and as a result she turned the blame inwards.
In a chapter entitled Silly Girl - to reference to the way in which victims are dismissed and blame - she wrote: 'It’s something I’ve never spoken about and yet I’ve thought about it every day since, increasingly so since having children.
'It was one of the very worst moments of my life. It was hugely traumatic. I’m not telling the story to shock but as a mirror to show how common these experiences are – and also how broken the support system is.'
The former Made In Chelsea star went on: 'I didn’t come forward. Not because I thought the police wouldn’t believe me, or that the courts would fail me, but because the man wasn’t a stranger in a dark alley. He was a friend.
'And because of that, the only person I blamed was myself. For years. Even after it happened, I was more worried about him not liking me than I was about my own trauma. I was worried he’d tell other people and everyone would think I was a s**g.
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'So I didn’t tell anyone, and I even tried to stay friends with him. Even now I find it hard to think about him as a rapist. Even though that’s what he was, because I wasn’t asking for it. In fact, I was unconscious. I’d worry about ruining his life. Yes, I was drunk. Yes, I was wearing going-out clothes, having come from a club. But I was with friends — people I trusted.
'We don’t teach girls that, one day, if they get the chance, their male friends might try to rape them…' Ashley continued. 'It doesn’t matter what you are wearing [or] if you had zero drinks or 1,000 drinks.'
If you have been affected by sexual assault, contact Rape Crisis on 0808 500 2222 or use the online chat