Want to help tackle sexual bullying in schools?

[KateMumsnet]

The End Violence Against Women coalition has launched a new campaign which aims to tackle sexual bullying, harassment and violence in schools. They want girls to feel safe while they're learning, and for schools to help end violence against women and girls through education.

EVAW's research threw up some pretty grim figures:
Nearly one in three 16-18 year-old girls have experienced unwanted sexual touching at school in the UK.
Close to one in four 16-18 year-olds said that their teachers never told them that unwanted sexual touching, sharing of sexual pictures or sexual name-calling was unacceptable.
One in two boys and one in three girls believe that there are some circumstances when it is okay to hit a woman or force her to have sex.

The EVAW campaign calls for all teachers to be trained in dealing with the issue; for schools and academies to be required to collect and report data on violence against young women and girls in schools, including sexual harassment and bullying; and for Ofsted to inspect on how schools deal with it.

If you'd like to help, EVAW wants you to email Michael Gove, and/or to ask your MP to sign an Early Day Motion calling for violence against women and girls to be addressed through education. If you're pressed for time, they've provided a template letter - so it really should take just a few ticks.

Please do come back to the thread to let us know if you've managed it, or if this is something that you or your family have experienced.

of courser i want to tackle many many things,

why cant we tackle bullying in schools regardless of what that bullying entails.?

Because you can't ignore specific bullying against specific groups.

It's just wrong to say that racist bullying, is the same as any other bullying. Or that sexist bullying, or that homophobic, or that bullying on grounds of disability etc. etc. is the same as bog standard bullying. Its causes are different, they come from a specific attitude and they have far reaching consequences into adulthood if they're not tackled at a grass roots level IMO.

If you ignore the fact that there is a specific cause of bullying with a specific set of attitudes behind it, you're not tackling it properly, you're just glossing over it.

And anyway all schools have anti-bullying policies for all bullying, whatever its cause. We're already dealing with that - on paper at least. (Obviously in RL how effective schools are, varies wildly)

herbex

(Apart from the bit about schools already dealing with bullying at least on paper - I don't think most even register that gender bullying is an issue, let alone treat it with the same seriousness as racist bullying. If they had to record it as they have to do with racist incidents, that might help.)

Yes, don't mean that they already deal with gender bullying on papr - I'm not sure most of them do - but custardo was asking why we don't tackle bullying in schools regardless of why it happens - and theoretically, we already do.

If you took the view that we just tackle bullying as a one size fits all issue, you wouldn't pin point racist bullying as a specific issue that needs to be reported to the LEA. You'd lump it in with all the other bullying that goes on. The state recognises that bullying caused by racism, needs to be addressed a specific issue apart from just bullying caused by bullying. But it doesn't recognise that bullying caused by sexism (or homophobia AFAIK) is also something that needs to be addressed as a discrete issue.

right right i see - i think ... so racist bullying is recorded seperately? i didn't know this. and to record sexist and homophobic bullying seperately meaning that this would be reported to some high up bod and affect someones performance figures etcetc and make someone accountable - it is this that makes it work? becuase by doing this, a school must say to its staff - look here , we are being monitored on sexist and homophobic bullying, herre is some triaining on the issue, lets ensure it doesn;'t happen...subtext...becuase the school is being monitored and it will look really bad for the school aka headperson?

I am presuming that is why it was brought in Custy, though don't know enough about the thinking behind it to say for sure. I think people in New Labour just became aware that a shocking amount of racist bullying was going on in schools and that it was totally unacceptable that black and mixed race children should have their education disrupted on quite such an habitual basis without it being systematically dealt with. Unfortunately, they didn't notice that an equal or possibly even worse amount of sexual bullying is going on in schools, because sexism is considered normal while racism is considered a moral abomination, so at least teachers noticed when racial bullying went on, while they aren't even aware that sexual bullying is based on sexism, they think it's just "one of those things". And of course, most women accept sexual harassment in the streets as just "one of those things" - guess where they learn that?

i was sexually bullied at school and nothing was done to stop it by teachers or dinner supervisors

Have forwarded details to dh to share with SLT at his school. I know they are pretty pro-active on FGM and are good with pastoral care...

Jesus MUmsnet, give over trying to run the world.
It's so damned smug.

Yes stick to cupcakes.

Lobbying and campaigning is hardly trying to rule the world. Anyway MN has as much right to rule the world as anyone else. If they don't make a bid to, Take That will.

If a forum for mothers doesn't bother trying to tackle this issue when who should?
Good on you Kate/Mumsnet.

Sounds like an excellent idea.

my BF is the deputyhead of a primary school and it starts v young. in the last few weeks: one boy orders the girls around like they are his servants. 4 boys physically attacking 1 girl and calling her a slut/ho and not thinking there is anything wrong with it. another boy pushing a girl into a parked car outside school....