Given the sexual assault statistics we need to move back to single sex schools

[jeaux90]

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2026/oct/04/child-on-child-sexual-abuse-schools-england-and-wales

We could have a debate about the causes of course but the current government won’t ban porn for example so my view, we need to completely segregate at secondary school now if the government is serious about stopping VAWG.

Ffs

That is NOT what that means and you know it

Stop rushing to take the sides of men. I take it you’re a ‘boy mum’?

No one here has said 'all boys are sexual deviants'.

My biggest issues at school were from bullying girls, I met lovely male friends at school who I am still friends with today. I’ve been sexually assaulted numerous times but never at school

Yes, it’s a parent’s job to bring their sons up properly. I’ve already said that in previous posts. Too many parents let their children have unfettered access to online content.

However, we also need to remember that some parents don’t care. Therefore, as a society, we all have a responsibility to try to ensure our teens are shown how to behave properly. If boys are lumped together in a school, they do not learn how to interact with girls. For example, they are not shown that girls have an equal right to participate in lessons and put their point of view forward. Equally, teaching girls together does not teach them how to stand up for themselves and put their point of view forward in front of boys.

No. We need to teach boys how to act around other people. It is a male problem and a male problem to sort out. We always make it a girl's/women's issue when it is a man's issue. They created it, they perpetuate it, they should solve it.

What about the fact that there's not as much access to opposite sex children while out of school? As well as hoping by the time the children have finished school, they have grown up a bit. There's nothing to say that this behaviour would happen out of school either - it's not one or another.

I am not against people making changes either, through good parenting and schools but surely fewer children mixing sexes leads to fewer assaults. Schools too I don't think take it seriously either, but then like most bodies in the UK, they're struggling because of underfunding.

I went single sex and would have liked the same for dds. Didn't have the option where I live, but mine had a good experience of mixed and are more confident around both sexes than i was. So now I like mixed. If mine had ever been assaulted I'd feel differently I guess.
Would you want unis to be single sex too?

Apartheid works out well everywhere, doesn't it?

The more you divide, the more siloed you make a society. Be it on lines of sex, religion, social class or nationality, you create us and them narratives. People need to mix and separating children up because some representatives of one gender may be deemed dangerous to another is preposterous.

Also, this line was quite telling from the article.

Girls are more likely to be victims of sexual offences than boys, according to the analysis, which found that close to two-thirds of reported crimes affecting under-13s where the sex of the victim was documented had involved female victims.

So over a third of the victims were male. This isn't just a worrying statistic for girls but for all school-age children.

Questions of consent, what rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment are and misogyny (and misandry) need to be taught even from an early age.

I agree in principle that tackling male violence should be the priority, as opposed to removing girls.

But a) it's really hard to tackle this: it's talked about endlessly and nothing gets done and b) it isn't just sexual violence. Girls do far better academically without boys.

every girl I know from the age of 13 has been asssulted and not one had reported it, I doubt men could say that every guy they know has experienced the same

This.

I went to an all girls school and the girls were obsessed with boys and didn’t see them being dorky or irritating the way they would if they were there all the time. It may be fine for the girls with older brothers but I had only sisters and I didn’t know how to relate to boys at all.

Also all the girls schools near me have reputations for much more anxiety, bullying and anorexia than the mixed schools.

My sons went to mixed schools and the girls who went there at six form after single sex senior school were much happier there.

No one is painting all boys as predators. But the ONS stats are very very clear that over 95% of sexual assaults are committed by males.

Same. I was scared of boys.

It seemed to be the single sex school boys who were a bit rapey at my uni (the equivalent of the frat boys in the US) and the girls who went to single sex schools who were the least able to distinguish decent men from sleazes and narcissists and ended up in astonishingly ill judged relationships

Rubbish. My son went to a boys school. He had no problems at all at university, living in a mixed flat of 4 boys/4 girls, and in fact, has just gone on holiday (3 years after leaving Uni) as a group of 6, being 3 boys/3girls from that same uni flat (none of whom in relationships with each other - just 6 friends!). At work he is equally friendly with female work colleagues as male. He has no problems at all with females and respects them. Maybe helped by some of his favourite teachers at school being women

I'm all for girls having single sex education to be free from sexual assault.
It is not for girls to solve or be used as support humans, so boys can learn how to be decent humans (spoiler alert, they already know what no means and that assault is wrong, they do it to humiliate and degrade and because they can, consequence free). How depressingly low the bar is set by some.

No I think I have been clear on this point. Mixed for primary. SS 11-16 then mixed at 6th form.

I’m a parent of both. Not all boys are sexual predators. The vast majority are decent. That’s not “taking the side” of boys. It’s reality. Yes, there are some awful ones, but demonising boys at such a young age does not help. What message does that send to boys?

The portrayal of girls as sweet and innocent is wrong. There are plenty of vile teen girls who psychologically bully their female peers. Over my life, I’ve experienced more poor behaviour from females than males.

We need to stop this girls v boys nonsense and accept that parents and society need to bring up their children, of whatever sex, as decent humans who respect everyone.

Yet I went to a mixed school and barely mixed with the boys at all. My first boyfriend was when I was 22! I couldn't/didn't relate to boys at all despite attending a mixed school.

But this didn't happen years ago? It was common 60 odd years ago to have single sex schools. It didn't make people 'rapey' afaik?

couldn't agree more with this post. well said!

I went to a mixed state school in a ‘posh’ village in Surrey. I loved the school and I had lots of male friends that were funny, intelligent, were a benefit to the class etc

However, there were LOTS of incidents of VAWG. My best friend and I constantly had our bums smacked REALLY hard by a boy in our class from age 11 (honestly). This would be when moving between classes or in the playground etc. Boys would also try and look up girls skirts and then tell everyone what colour underwear they were wearing, and if they could see if the girls had shaved (!) or not. Boys would also try - and sometimes successfully - unclip girls bras through their polo shirts despite girls protesting. I don’t recall any of us girls reporting it to teachers as it was “just what boys do”. Looking back I don’t know how teachers weren’t aware as it seemed to happen all the time in all parts of the school

I also recall a sex act happening in the toilets between a girl in my class (year 8) and a boy in year 7.

Looking back as an adult you wonder WTF

I agree. My girls love being at a girls secondary and so did I.

OP I assume you just have daughters, and you're seemingly blind to any undesirable behaviours girls may have.

I went to a girls-only school, which was mostly boarding, although I was a day pupil. The attitude to boys was twisted. The girls were obsessed, to the extent that the middle-aged gardener was practically stalked, and the young male lab technician was harassed by girls asking him to go out with them. Boys were seen as "forbidden fruit", and the attitudes to boys in general were deeply unhealthy. I had an older brother, so it wasn't as bad for me, but I still came to university without ever really having had a platonic male friend. My school experience didn't prepare me at all for establishing healthy male friendships.

My sons have gone to the local mixed school, and they've had some lovely friendships with girls over the years.

I don't think there's a "one size fits all". Some kids (boys and girls) would be better suited to single-sex schools, some to mixed-sex.

@Another76543

The portrayal of girls as sweet and innocent is wrong. There are plenty of vile teen girls who psychologically bully their female peers. Over my life, I’ve experienced more poor behaviour from females than males.

Same here. ALL my school bullies were girls. Not just verbal abuse, but assault, property damage/theft and even being burned by fag ends.