More than just a condom demonstration
By Liz Ackerley
“Are you all comfortable when I say the words oral sex?” Drawing the words out with an almost sadistic smile on his face, this was how a former teacher of mine once addressed our year 9 class. His question was followed by nervous giggles and embarrassed coughing and left us squirming in our seats as we tried to look anywhere but at his incredibly tight trousers. Needless to say, we were not exactly thrilled by the idea of discussing the topic with our RE teacher. This, and a cartoon video of a sperm meeting an egg, was the extent of my sex and relationships education at school. A handful of other classes were at least treated to a condom demonstration, but sexual consent, pornography, LGBTQ relationships, violence against women and girls, what constitutes a healthy relationship and online safety? Not a mention. Sadly this is not unusual, as the government deem only some aspects of Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) important enough to be compulsory in comprehensive schools; namely those that are part of the national curriculum for science and therefore do not explore healthy relationships or issues related to gender inequality. And in private schools and academies SRE can be missed out altogether.
So why is it so important that schools, in partnership with experts in the field, provide comprehensive and appropriate SRE for all their pupils? Three recent initiatives can tell us more about the desperate need for effective and inclusive SRE in schools:
Petition for compulsory sex and relationships education in schools by the End Violence Against Women coalition and the Everyday Sexism Project
The End Violence Against Women coalition and the Everyday Sexism Project have teamed up to create a petition calling on the party leaders to “Commit to making sex and relationships education in schools compulsory, to include sexual consent, healthy and respectful relationships, gender stereotypes and online pornography.” The petition focuses on the damaging, highly sexualised and sexist culture in which children grow up and how popular culture can have a huge impact on children and young people’s perceptions of what constitutes a healthy sexual (or non-sexual) relationship. We live in a world where media such as music videos, advertising and films continually portray women as sexualised and dehumanised and often show men as aggressive and even abusive, therefore normalising these gender stereotypes and perpetuating gender-based violence. The petition argues that SRE needs to be an essential part of the curriculum to challenge negative stereotypes and to increase knowledge and awareness of positive sexual relationships.
The End Violence Against Women and Girls Coalition Prevention Network
Alongside the petition, this network, made up of a number of organisations that have broad specialist and frontline knowledge on the situation for women and girls in this country, have recently released a factsheet designed to support schools in England to prevent violence and abuse of girls. The factsheet references a 2013 Ofsted report that found that 40% of schools had weak Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) Education and that consequentially pupils in these schools “had gaps in their knowledge and skills, most commonly in the serious safeguarding areas of personal safety in relation to sex and relationships.” The factsheet references several facts pertaining to the levels of violence amongst children and young people and how disproportionately this affects women and girls. Containing information about child sexual abuse and child sexual exploitation, domestic violence and teen relationship abuse, female genital mutilation (FGM), forced marriage, online abuse, pornography, rape and sexual assault, ‘sexting’, sexual harassment and stalking, the factsheet aims to fill in the gaps in the knowledge and skills these children learn at school. The factsheet underlines how a whole school approach to SRE and gender equality could really help to challenge the normalisation of gender-based violence and prevent abuse. This would be achieved by acknowledging the extent of violence against women and girls, challenging notions of male sexual entitlement, preventing abusive attitudes and behaviours, unpicking harmful stereotypes that place responsibility on girls to protect themselves from violence, and addressing the gendered environment in which young people form attitudes and navigate relationships.
Girlguiding campaign: Girls Matter, our Calls for Change
Of course the voices that really need to be heard throughout this discussion are those of young women themselves: enter the Girlguiding movement. Girlguiding is the largest charity for girls and young women in the UK with over half a million members and they have recently produced a campaign to call on politicians to make young women’s voices a priority in the 2015 election. Their campaign comprises of 8 demands, including; wider representation in government and in policy consultation; an end to sexual bullying and children’s exposure to sexualised content in the media; an increased focus on girls rights in international development; and modernised SRE and gender equality to be taught in all schools. The campaign has been sparked by the results of their annual Girls’ Attitudes Survey, which found that girls are growing increasingly frustrated about the amount of sexual content in the media and sexual harassment on the streets and in the playground and want to bring about positive change by petitioning the government to pledge their support and respect these demands in politics.
All three initiatives urge the government to introduce compulsory, modernised Sex and Relationships Education as a means of protecting young people from harm and encouraging healthy and happy relationships. Some may argue that schools are not the right place to teach SRE, see MP Philip Davies’ recent comments for example. However, given that young people spend vast amounts of their childhood and teenage years at school and come to school to learn, it seems bizarre not to include this vital information and give young people a chance to explore these issues in the classroom. There is also the issue that a worryingly high amount of sexual violence and sexual harassment is perpetrated within schools and therefore the message that this is not ok needs to be given out consistently with a whole school approach by these institutions. It goes without saying that violence against women and girls won’t end with schools enforcing SRE as a single solution, but tackling harmful attitudes and promoting respect and consent in relationships would be a big step in the right direction.