Women’s rights groups launch peititon for compulsory sex education

In the wake of the Rotherham scandal, high levels of sexual assaults in schools & the impact of online pornography, lessons on sex and relationships should be compulsory in primary and secondary schools, women’s rights campaigners have said.

As the main party conferences begin, leading women’s rights campaigners have today launched a new online petition addressed to all party leaders asking them to pledge before the General Election in May 2015 to making Sex & Relationships Education (SRE) compulsory in all schools as a key way of preventing abuse of women and girls.

The End Violence Against Women Coalition and the Everyday Sexism Project petition says young people today are bombarded with negative and conflicting messages about sex, relationships and how men and women should treat each other – from music videos and popular culture to online pornography which they see whether or not they seek it out. This is the context in which abusive ‘sexting’ and sexual harassment are common in schools.

The campaigners say that while children and teens are bombarded with sexist messages and images, there is often nothing to counter it in schools as they are not guaranteed to have the opportunity to discuss sex and relationships questions at school. As a result, issues such as sexual consent are understood in deeply gendered ways, with a ‘sexual double standard’ about men and women’s roles.

The EVAW Coalition and the Everyday Sexism Project are therefore asking David Cameron, Nick Clegg, Ed Miliband and all Party Leaders to make a concrete pledge before the General Election in May 2015 to make the teaching of sexual consent, healthy and respectful relationships, gender stereotypes and the harms of online pornography compulsory in all schools as a key policy to prevent abuse.

Opinion polls and ongoing campaigning show that compulsory SRE has widespread public support, especially among parents, teachers and young people. The campaigners believe party political opinion on the issue is at a tipping point.

Laura Bates (pictured), Founder of the Everyday Sexism Project, said: “From Blurred Lines to lads’ mags, online porn to Snapchat, the Lad Bible to Page 3, our culture routinely portrays women as  dehumanised and sexualised, and men as sexual aggressors. This normalises misogynistic and even abusive behaviour towards women and girls. We have to make the connection between the conflicting messages this delivers to young people and the fact that 85,000 women are raped in England & Wales every year.

“The abuse of girls such as that exposed in Rotherham is in part facilitated by the failure to challenge from an early age the view that men are entitled to women and girls, and by the failure to provide information and support for girls which might enable them to recognise abuse and seek help earlier.”

EVAW Coalition Director Holly Dustin said: “The case for statutory SRE as part of compulsory PSHE is now overwhelming. It is a common sense measure in light of what we know about young people’s lives, the pressures they face in a sexist society and the prevalence of abuse of girls and women. It is the best chance we have as a society to provide young people, boys and young men in particular, with guidance about respectful and non-abusive relationships, and positive attitudes towards women.. There is now a chorus of support for compulsory SRE across the political spectrum, across professions and experts, among parents and teachers. We cannot sit back and hope to respond better to the next Rotherham – we need to prevent it in the first place.”

“In the past some parents have been concerned about the possible sharing of explicit material in school with their young children. We are calling for a strong focus on the relationships, respect and equality aspect of SRE when taught in school and, of course, for all SRE to be age appropriate. It must go hand in hand with resources for women’s support services for girls who disclose abuse.”

The petition is supported and being shared widely by many people including the following and expects to reach 1000s of signature in the next few days.

Mumsnet Co-founder Justine Roberts said: “Mumsnet users are clear: they want comprehensive, compulsory sex and relationships education, and as children get older they want it to address topics like pornography, sexting, sexual violence, and meaningful consent. Both boys and girls can be vulnerable to peer pressure and abuse, and good SRE helps them to recognise the building blocks of healthy, happy relationships. Mumsnet has long called for SRE to be updated to reflect the internet age – and for teachers to be supported in delivering it – and we’re delighted to be backing this important campaign.”

Writer and journalist Caitlin Moran said: “As Marianne Wright-Eldman said, You cannot be what you cannot see. If our children are not learning at school about love, and relationships, and how sex can be something other than the cold, unhappy, stunt-pornography being watched on a million mobile phones at the back of the bus, then how else will it come into their lives?

“Currently we leave this vital information to chance, or the lucky circumstances of a child’s supportive and enlightened family. This clearly isn’t fair – and it impacts on the children who would need this information the most.”

The campaigners want to see SRE made part of Personal Social Health and Economic education (PSHE). The full petition calls for:

• All schools, primary and secondary, to teach SRE including sexual consent, gender stereotypes, healthy and respectful relationships and the harms of online pornography
• Teacher training and statutory guidance to back this up
• A wider programme of work to prevent abuse of women and girls as part of the Home Office-led Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy.

The EVAW Coalition’s expert members are also publishing a Violence Against Women & Girls Factsheet for Schools today, backed by the Department for Education, which pulls together for the first time information on the different forms of abuse women and girls disproportionately experience alongside advice on teaching resources for each and supporting girls who disclose abuse.

Laura Bates concluded: “The provision of good quality SRE is a fundamental right and is too important to be left to chance. This is now widely recognised by politicians and by the public at large. We hope to see an election debate which reflects that.”

The petition is at www.change.org/srenow and campaigners are tweeting it with #SREnow

For more, visit: http://www.endviolenceagainstwomen.org.uk