Almost all young women in the UK have been sexually harrassed

[Kit19]

this is heartbreaking and I wish I could say surprising but it isnt. Women have no faith it will be dealt with either

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/10/almost-all-young-women-in-the-uk-have-been-sexually-harassed-survey-finds

Guardian... feh.

Yes though - not just women, girl too. I was first grabbed when I was about ten (in my school uniform).

I was sexually harassed by my boss when I had a Saturday job in 1970. In those days you just dealt with it (threatened him with my hair brush) and never mentioned it because I wanted to keep the job. I hope girls nowadays would feel able to talk about it without feeling they are to blame.

its such a huge issue that its hard to know where to start with it.

why do so many men and boys feel they have the right to make comments about how women and girls look or the right to touch them? (rhetorical question, I know its patriarchy!)

why do so many men and boys not see what they do as sexual harrassment but " a bit of fun" or "banter"?

why isnt it taken seriously?

What is interesting is the suggestion that the uk is bad

" we have seen strong results elsewhere in the world. Our problem now is that sometimes in the uk we think we are a leading light in terms of progress"

Ie everyone thinks the problem is solved and is women are complaining at nothing

It's a really sad situation that makes me quite angry. I'm focusing on the hope that the more awareness is brought forward, the more boys and men will change their behaviour (hopefully). Something within my control is teaching my daughter wrong from right, that she has a choice when it comes to her body and people's behaviour towards her. She's only 2 now but I really want to raise a bit of a fire cracker when it comes this, I feel its important for women to feel able to stick up for themselves and fight back when they need to.

This is heartbreaking and unsurprising. Access to online porn has a lot to do with increased male sexual entitlement I think.

I'm waiting for the first "well its never happened to me"

But I digress, yes its pretty much endemic now, male entitlement to touch and comment on the bodies of women and girls. They don't do it to other men so they can't claim that there's no sexual or misogynistic element to it.

And I hate the implication that we should somehow be flattered by the "attention" too.

I wonder if the increase experienced by younger women is less about a genuine increase in sexual harassment than a refusal by young women to accept inappropriate behaviour. I find it unlikely that my generation was less harassed given my own experience. What is more likely is that older groups saw lower levels of harassment as just the way things were.
Well done these young women for calling out this appallingly entitled male behaviour

Much as I hate to say it, until decent men call out other men (& boys) for doing this, nothing will change.
Women have been calling this out for years and it's now worse than it's ever been. Men listen to other men, they need to start standing up against this.
I am trying my hardest with DS to bring him up to go against the grain but unless he and others have the guts to stand up to their peers, the problem will remain.

I’m not surprised, it’s horrific.

However that’s a new thing emerging that I’m not sure we’ve seen before and that’s young women turning the tables and becoming the instigator.

Please hear me out: My 17 yr old son complains how almost any girl he dates wants to get straight down to sex, he doesn’t want that and so often gets dumped / named called for it.
When they were going out, girls would often grab them and try and pull them down alleys etc.
Online they message him (as a stranger) and send all sorts of pics unsolicited.

As a woman who’s experienced more than my fair share of harassment this scares me, I can see why young women are essentially going ‘I’m going to take my power back and be the proactive one here rather than the victim’ however by doing that to the non sexually agressive guys, it’s just spreading the problem further.

I think huge amounts of all of this behaviour comes from Porn

Here's the UN 'safe spaces' campaign mentioned.

www.unwomenuk.org/safe-spaces-now

See also the 'Make Space for Girls' campaign, link and discussion here

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4181054-Teenage-girls-and-public-space-facilities-an-update

Depressing and unsurprising.
I'm in my 40s and have been on the receiving end of unwanted sexual attention, comments and groping, more times than I want to tot up.
This needs to be hugely addressed in an educational way from the very start of high school in my opinion. We need to look at attitudes, not just behaviour. The subtext is still that we are secondary to males and THAT is why this is happening.
Parents also need to be having regular conversations with their children about consent, porn etc. They can be very uncomfortable conversations to have.

Whilst much bad behaviour comes from male peers, my experience was that the vast majority of harassment was from adult men when I was a young teenager in school uniform.

To me it suggests that education isn't the answer (or possibly only part of it) these men intentionally pick out girls and women they can see are vulnerable to intimidate and harass, they know their behaviour is wrong but they enjoy it. What is needed is swift action on reports and low level behaviour taken seriously before it escalates.

@Bordois

And I hate the implication that we should somehow be flattered by the "attention" too.

There is an issue that as women are valued by their sexual attractiveness, being harassed gives some women a sense of value. However I think once women understand that a man harassing a woman is demonstrating power not sexual attraction, we see the harassment in a much more negative light. We need to educate young women on this.

Sadly I have come to realise that many men will fuck literally anything and anyone, so a man indicating he thinks a woman is fuckable isn’t really that flattering.

Interesting post above and puts me in mind of the thread about 90’s teen girl magazines revolving around how to make boys/men fancy you. When I was a geeky teen I remember it being seen as a complement that a boy/man would “fancy” you... therefore not seeing harassment for what it is. Its only in adulthood that you realise it’s all back to front, that a man’s desire for sex doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with his regard for your personality or worth and harassment is about power not attraction. It’s definitely something I want to bring my girls up to understand from the outset.

Agree with so many of these points.It doesn't help that sexual harassment in schools is now called "peer on peer harassment". Yes of course boys are harassed as well as girls but obliterating the sex based bias doesn't help - it disguises the awful reality of what too many girls face in schools. We need to be able to name it, count it and take appropriate action. As we're seeing with the reduction in resources for abused women because the resources aren't "gender neutral", hiding facts under a cloak of gender neutrality, stops society resourcing and tackling issues.

@MoltenLasagne

Whilst much bad behaviour comes from male peers, my experience was that the vast majority of harassment was from adult men when I was a young teenager in school uniform.

To me it suggests that education isn't the answer (or possibly only part of it) these men intentionally pick out girls and women they can see are vulnerable to intimidate and harass, they know their behaviour is wrong but they enjoy it. What is needed is swift action on reports and low level behaviour taken seriously before it escalates.

That was my experience too. 90% of the street harrassment in my life was when cycling or walking to school.

I've lost track of the amount of times I've been sexually harassed. Occasionally it extended to being sexually assaulted. From males of all ages.

There was an article posted by, I think, ITV last week where two women said they were put of going running in the park due to sexual harassment. A man came past on a moped I think and grabbed one of their bums.

The comments on Facebook were frankly sickening. The usual men saying, 'stop moaning', 'it's a compliment', 'snowflakes' etc, but worse were the women jumping in and saying, 'that's not assault'

Its disgusting that if someone walked by and yelled 'dykes!' It would be a hate crime and they could be arrested, but grabbing a stranger's arse is somehow fine in many people's eyes.

Sexual harassment and sexual assault happens and has happened to older women too, probably the majority of older women throughout their lives since puberty. I'm glad it is recognised as wrong now, and the perpetrators are called out for it often.

I cannot think of a single woman my age - 64 - who doesn't have a string of tales to tell about sexual harassment and assault. I'm glad to see it coming out at last but I'm a little at the notion that it's something new.

Part of the problem is men finding it difficult to see things from a woman's perspective. Every time I have discussed this with men I get the " cor, I'd love to be sexually harassed " jokey attitude. I usually ask them if they would enjoy having their crotch grabbed by a bloke the size of Mike Tyson. They get it then.

I read that article with dismay this morning. How to make sure that my sons don't do this kind of behaviour? If it's so widespread then it's a LOT of seemingly "good" men doing this stuff.