Some of the country's top tertiary campuses are facing a spate of aggressive, online harassment of female students, with most struggling to combat the issue and unsure of their authority over the perpetrators.

So far none of the male students behind a Facebook page which targeted female students at Melbourne University have been disciplined, despite some putting their names to highly offensive comments. The page, with more than 13,000 supporters, was taken down on Friday, four days after the launch of a petition calling for its removal.

Law student Laura Blandthorn led a successful campaign to get a Facebook page called "Hotties of Melbourne University" taken down. Credit:Penny Stephens

However, a similar page at RMIT, which was deleted, popped up again with a slightly different name, and is still active. A Monash Hotties page has been taken down but Hotties of Monash Malaysia continues.

Comments on the Hotties of Melbourne University page included, "This girl is a 0/10. I would not bang her even if they paid me". "100 % would bang" and "Shoot me with tranquilliser right now before I go out to hunt!"



While some photos may be self-posted, the sites mainly uses photos "fraped", or taken without permission from people's unsecure Facebook pages.