Written submission from Rape Crisis South London and Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre (RASASC) (SVS0076)
Executive Summary
1.1 Rape Crisis South London, or the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre (RASASC), was set up in 1985. We are an independent organisation based in Croydon, providing a range of specialist and confidential support services for female survivors of sexual violence, who are aged 13 years and over and who live or work in South London. Our specialist sexual violence services include; providing the national rape and sexual abuse helpline, long-term counselling/psychotherapy, advocacy/ISVA support for women either considering or who have already reported to the police, outreach support for women experiencing further societal marginalisation and training with multi-agency, education and youth professionals, along with prevention workshops delivered with young people directly.
1.2 This submission draws upon our 30 years of expertise, which is both informed by practice based evidence and survivor and young people’s voices, and which is also reaffirmed by academic research. From our experience delivering sexual violence prevention workshops with young people, we have learned how young people are developing and navigating relationships in a gendered context, where girls particularly are experiencing high levels of sexual harassment and sexual violence often from men and boys they know. We have also learnt that many teachers are concerned about sexual bullying/harassment and/or abuse of their students, both in school, in public, online and at home, but feel unskilled in how to address the root causes or what to do in the case of disclosure.
1.3 We wish to submit this evidence to highlight young people’s experiences of sexual harassment and sexual violence, drawing particular attention to the gendered nature of these experiences and how these are rooted in gender inequality and within a context of violence against women and girls. The evidence we are submitting focusses particularly on peer on peer sexual violence and harassment, however it is crucial to also note that perpetrators of sexual violence and harassment against children and young people, can also be other known adults in either school, or family, public or online environments. It is also important to note that adults in the school environment can also experience sexual violence and harassment both from other students and adults.
1.4 It’s also important to acknowledge there will be children and young people in schools who are currently or have previously experienced sexual abuse within a family context. A recent report from the Office for Children’s Commissioner highlighted over 2/3 of all sexual abuse children and young people experience is occurring in a family environment.[1] This is also reflected within our own organisation; where over half of the women who use our services are adult survivors of child sexual abuse.
Evidence
2.1 Based on young people’s experiences and increasing concerns from teachers, it is clear that sexual harassment and sexual violence are occurring at significantly high levels within schools. Young people we work with report hearing and witnessing, and for girls particularly, personally experiencing incidents of sexual harassment on a daily basis both in and outside of school, as well as online.
2.2 The types of sexual harassment and sexual violence being experienced include; rape, sexual assault, sexual exploitation, verbal (i.e. spreading rumours, sexualised name calling, requests or demands to perform sexual acts) and non-verbal (i.e. staring, making sexual gestures) forms of sexual harassment, image based sexual abuse including coercive and/or abusive ‘sexting’, sharing of pornographic material and ‘revenge pornography’.
2.3 The types of sexual harassment that boys and girls experience is also heavily gendered; boys experience high levels of verbal homophobic bullying (‘gay’, ‘moist’, ‘pussy’, ‘batty boy’) and experience social and peer pressure to behave in a hyper-masculine way, where heterosexual behaviour is both encouraged and praised; girls however, experience high levels of verbal, non-verbal and physical sexual harassment on a daily basis, where their sexuality and sexual behaviour is heavily policed and where they are shamed and humiliated if they do express any sexuality or sexual behaviour (‘slag’, ‘slut’, ‘sket’, ‘thirsty’) and also shamed and humiliated if they don’t (‘frigid’, ‘lezza’).
2.4 The gender double-standards that exist around sexual behaviour for boys and girls, coupled with expectations surrounding ‘masculinity’ and ‘femininity’, create a dangerous dynamic where boys believe they need to be the ‘initiators’ of sexual activity and girls are positioned as the ‘gatekeepers’. This creates an unequal power dynamic where boys tell us they are expected to seek out sex with girls by any means possible, often through coercion, as a way of proving their ‘heterosexual masculinity’ to other boys in their peer group. This also means girls are often experiencing high levels of coercion to engage in sexual behaviour, i.e. send nude photos, and perform sexual acts, whilst also being denied the freedom and space to act with agency and express their sexuality and/or act on their own desires.
2.5 These gendered expectations and attitudes towards how boys/men and girls/women ‘should’ behave sexually, underpin the widespread belief in the many myths young people and adults hold about rape and sexual abuse, resulting in high levels of victim-blaming. From a sample of 70 young people aged 13-16 we worked with;
2.6 Young people are additionally learning and developing relationships in the context of a highly sexualised and sexist media (‘sexualised sexism’[2] ) which reinforces gender stereotypes, rape myths and victim-blaming attitudes and sexually objectifies women and girls bodies for the pleasure of men and boys. When combined, this creates a conducive context for sexual harassment and sexual violence to thrive in schools.
2.7 Young people’s experiences of sexual harassment and sexual violence are not occurring independent of one another; they are interlinked where often girls are experiencing multiple forms of sexual harassment and sexual violence, in and outside of school and at home, in public and online, and in the context of a sexualised media and popular culture. As such, it is crucial that any prevention and support methods come from a gendered perspective and understanding, and are framed within a context of violence against women and girls.
2.8 From working directly with women and girls and teachers and young people in schools, we know the way sexual harassment and sexual violence is being both perpetrated and experienced is significantly gendered. Whilst both boys and girls do experience and can also perpetrate sexual harassment and sexual violence, overwhelmingly, the majority of those perpetrating sexual harassment and sexual violence in schools are men and boys, and the majority of those experiencing sexual harassment and sexual violence are women and girls. We repeatedly see this gendered pattern of perpetrating behaviour by men and boys against women and girls across all aspects of our society, whether abuse occurs in school, in public, at home or online.
2.8 From working alongside teachers through delivery of our teacher training and work in schools, we are aware that female teachers are much more likely to experience sexual harassment and sexual violence from male students and members of staff. The specifics of what is happening and how often, is best answered by the Teaching Unions across the UK.
2.9 We know the current prevalence of sexual harassment and sexual violence in schools are at epidemic levels. Due to poor and inconsistent monitoring and recording of incidences, it is difficult to determine whether levels of sexual bullying, harassment and sexual violence are increasing in schools or not. Within our own organisation, we have seen an increase in the number of young women under 18 seeking specialist support through the national rape and sexual abuse helpline and both our counselling and advocacy services. Collectively, the young women’s experiences of sexual violence have included; rape (anal, oral and vaginal), sexual assault, grooming (face to face and online), sexual abuse and sexual harassment (including being sent pornography). Recent police data at the end of March 2015 also showed 30% of recorded rapes were committed against girls under the age of 16.[3] From our prevention work in schools, young people tell us they hear and see incidences of sexual bullying and harassment every day, several times a day, occurring in school (i.e. classrooms, playgrounds, school corridors), in public (travelling to and from school) and online.
2.10 From delivering training to teachers around sexual violence and young people, we have learnt there are large discrepancies and inconsistencies both within and across schools, in the recording and monitoring of sexual harassment and sexual violence. There is a lack of guidance for schools on what constitutes sexual harassment and sexual violence and how this should be recorded and responded to. This problem is further compounded by the high levels of sexual harassment occurring in schools, with one teacher saying;
“If I acted on every incident of sexual bullying or sexting that took place in school, it would be all I would do all day, every day.”
2.11 The lack of consistency in monitoring and therefore action from schools, also impacts on young people’s confidence to report incidences in the first place. When we ask young people if they would tell someone at school they had been sexually harassed or assaulted, the overwhelming response is no. When we ask young people what they think their school can do to prevent sexual harassment in school, there is huge amount of apathy with responses including;
“There’s no point saying anything. Nothing will happen.”
“They won’t do anything.”
“They ask our opinion, but then they just do what they want anyway.”
“We’d get in trouble too, if we said what had happened.”
“They will just make it worse.”
3.1 Sexual harassment and sexual violence have significant impacts on all members of the school and wider community. For survivors, sexual violence creates trauma which can manifest in many different ways; it can lead to anxiety, depression, hyper-alertness, flashbacks, panic attacks, disassociation and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (this is a non-exhaustive list). In order to cope with the trauma they have sustained survivors may develop coping techniques such as eating disorders, self-harm and suicide ideation. Survivors typically experience feelings of blame and self-shame, perpetuated by the victim-blaming society in which we live. A survivor will experience feelings of isolation and may present with challenging behaviour in the school environment. A survivor may stop attending school (particularly if the perpetrator is a peer). They may also experience bullying from other peers and public shaming through the medium of apps and social media, thereby increasing their sense of isolation.
3.2 The inadequate challenging by schools creates a level of tacit acceptance towards both the boys/girls and young men/women who are exposed to and who are party to these behaviours. This sense that sexual harassment and sexual violence are commonplace will be carried with them into later life. They will absorb the dangerous idea sexual harassment and sexual violence are not serious, that it’s part of growing up, and for boys part of becoming and being a man. An association of sexual harassment and sexual violence with masculinity is toxic and creates perpetrators. This is highlighted by a 2013 Joint Inspectorate study of young sex offenders where almost half of the cases contained documented evidence of the young men and boys exhibiting previous “concerning sexualised behaviour” that was either not identified at the time or was subject to disbelief, minimisation and denial by professionals and families - crucially missing the opportunity to intervene and prevent abuse.[4]
4.1 Schools are currently having to manage this problem individually however, this is something that can’t continue. The lack of national guidance and compulsory sex and relationships education (SRE) in schools is creating huge inconsistencies in the teaching of SRE and responses from schools to incidents of sexual harassment and sexual violence. Some schools have PSHE and SRE provision that is timetabled and encourages all young people to consider their behaviour, their rights and how to have respectful relationships, however there are many schools where PSHE and SRE is expected to be delivered in morning tutor time or as a one day event per term. Where schools do have good SRE provision, this often relies on an individual teacher ‘championing’ the issue and having the status within the school to progress it.
4.2 All children deserve to have a consistent approach to safeguarding and child protection and in our experience schools want and need national support in developing clear policies that sit within the broader VAWG framework, which include access to specialist sexual violence training and support from local Rape Crisis Centre’s to deliver universal SRE to young people as well as specialist support for survivors.
4.3 In the absence of compulsory SRE, Ofsted can play a vital role in monitoring and enforcing actionAs part of their inspections and within a child safeguarding framework, they could include how schools monitor and record incidents of sexual harassment and sexual violence, what policies are in place and whether they are appropriate and being implemented effectively, how schools are responding to incidents and are these appropriate for both survivors and those perpetrating, whether schools engage with specialists sexual violence services such as Rape Crisis Centres to deliver training, workshops and to provide support to survivors and importantly whether children and young people feel safe and supported in the school environment.
4.4 For any input from Ofsted to be successful, it is important schools don’t feel they will be penalised for logging incidents of sexual harassment and sexual violence. Ofsted will need to have a supportive approach, encouraging schools to log incidents whilst ensuring schools and the wider public understand the prevalence of sexual harassment and sexual violence is a national and global concern which is not confined to one part of the country or particular school.
4.5 It is crucial that all teacher training providers are required to include core modules on sexual harassment and sexual violence, developed and delivered in partnership with the VAWG sector and in particular specialist sexual violence services like Rape Crisis. Sexual violence training should also be a core part of all existing school staff members continued professional development, with compulsory annual sexual violence training provided in the same way is expected with safeguarding training.
4.6 The Department for Education (DfE) should work with specialists in the VAWG sector to develop guidance for schools that sit within the national VAWG strategy, come from a gendered perspective and which include a ‘whole school approach’[5] to preventing further sexual harassment and sexual violence in schools. This would include;
5. What can schools do to support students to deal better with the online elements of this problem?
Evidence from our pre-consultation work shows sexting, online bullying and the normalisation of pornography are all issues for students and they want more support in dealing with them.
5.1 Schools are often overwhelmed by the volume of incidents of sexual harassment and sexual violence, along with the speed at which new apps and technology are being created and used for communication between young people. This creates a situation where current responses to sexting and online sexual harassment are inadequate. The absence of compulsory SRE including consent and respectful relationships mean that students and staff alike are unequipped to navigate the complexities of online abuse.
5.2 There is often a lack of understanding from schools on the gendered way in which online abuse and sexting are taking place. This results in victim-blaming responses, where talks and lessons focus on preventing women and girls from sharing pictures or videos with others, or partaking in their creation. This places responsibility on the women and girls to safeguard themselves, an approach echoed in wider society. However this ignores the high levels of coercion and harassment girls often face, particularly from the threat of being exposed through ‘revenge pornography’. It’s important the focus from schools is on challenging the abusive behaviour, i.e. the offence of coercion and sharing content without permission.
5.3 While we recognise the difficulties schools may have at policing and monitoring online activity, particularly the activity that may not occur on school property, or during school hours we would encourage a robust approach around education, awareness raising, support provision and the disciplinary and safeguarding procedures. Where harassment or violence occurs it is imperative that the victims have specialist support that they can access. The provision of this support should be at a time and place that works for the survivor, in a way which does not single out the survivor amongst their peers. There should be clear boundaries around confidentiality, safeguarding, potential police and guardian involvement that could stem from disclosures.
5.4 If there is police involvement schools needs to recognise that this will create a vast amount of additional stress and anxiety, compounded with the trauma they have already experienced. It is important that schools have a knowledge of the police system, and that it informs their treatment of both the perpetrators and survivors.
5.5 The viewing of extreme pornography, and its absence of consent it extremely problematic among young people particularly when compounded with a lack of education around sex and consent. It creates certain gendered expectations of behaviour, appearance and attitude which is damaging to both boys and girls. Any SRE curriculum must include space to discuss the impacts of pornography on developing attitudes towards men, women, expectations around sexual behaviour, pleasure and gender roles, body image, consent and relationships, in an age-appropriate and sensitive way.
6. Recommendations
6.1 All schools should be required to develop a ‘whole school approach’ to all forms of VAWG including sexual harassment and sexual violence. This needs to include specialist teacher training from the specialist violence against women and girls sector.
6.2 It is imperative that schools engage with the VAWG sector and allocate resources to be able to robustly respond to any incidents of sexual harassment and sexual violence which are witnessed or reported, and that they actively create a safe space where young people feel able to disclose their experiences. Even where no action is taken against the perpetrator through the criminal justice system, the school still has a responsibility to safeguard the survivor and other students in a way that does not put the focus on her changing her behaviour.
6.3 This requires effective guidelines and policies that are firmly in place and rooted in child safeguarding procedures; responses are best led by the survivor and swift in their coordination and execution. Flexibility around the survivors needs, i.e. allowing time off for accessing support and any social services or police involvement (which may be long lasting and have additional impacts) is also crucial. Where teachers are not given adequate training they will feel unsupported in their role and unable to effectively deal with disclosures and behaviours. A sense of confidence that stems from being well-informed is a vital element of this.
6.4 We support the recommendations for compulsory and age-appropriate SRE, which includes consent, impacts of pornography and ‘revenge pornography’ and respectful relationships to be introduced in primary and secondary schools.
6.5 Funding should be made available for Rape Crisis Centres to support survivors of sexual violence in all its forms, as well as support schools by delivering teacher training and delivering prevention workshops directly with young people.
[1] http://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/Protecting%20children%20from%20harm%20-%20full%20report.pdf
[2] See Coy, M. (2014) Sexualised Sexism: Popular Culture, Sexualisation and Violence Against Women and Girls London: End Violence Against Women
[3]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/compendium/focusonviolentcrimeandsexualoffences/yearendingmarch2015/experimentalstatistics1newdataonpolicerecordedviolentandsexualoffencesyearendingmarch2015#sexual-offences-by-age-and-sex-of-the-victim
[4]https://www.cqc.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/children_and_young_people_who_sexually_offend_thematic_report.pdf
[5] http://www.endviolenceagainstwomen.org.uk/data/files/resources/71/EVAW-Coalition-Schools-Guide.pdf