General Article “Widespread” sexual harassment and violence in schools must be tackled

Topic Selected: Sexualising Society
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Report by the Women and Equalities Committee exposes the shocking scale of sexual harassment and sexual violence that is not being tackled effectively in English schools.

The scale of sexual harassment

The report outlines evidence that:

  • almost a third (29%) of 16- to 18-year-old girls say they have experienced unwanted sexual touching at school
  • nearly three-quarters (71%) of all 16- to 18-year-old boys and girls say they hear terms such as “slut” or “slag” used towards girls at schools on a regular basis
  • 59% of girls and young women aged 13–21 said in 2014 that they had faced some form of sexual harassment at school or college in the past year.

Everyday Sexism Project

Young people told the Committee that sexual harassment has become a normal part of school life with “calling women bitches and stuff like that… a common thing that you see in school, on a daily basis really”. This view was supported by evidence from Laura Bates of the Everyday Sexism Project who described sexual hara...

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