Online harassment and “dick pics”: Girls talked about boys being very persistent when asking for or sending, nude/semi-nude images and some explained that if you block them on social media “they just create multiple accounts to harass you”, according to a report.

Ways and forms school children are sexually-abused

3 reasons sexually-abused UK schoolgirl children don’t report it

Sexual assaults happen in schools and public places

School children, especially girls, experience sexual assault by other pupils in their classrooms, on the bus to school, in the neighbourhood, in recreational parks, parties including house parties, cinemas, eateries, and in other unsupervised public spacious places. ITV report stated that 79% of girls said sexual assault of any kind happened ‘a lot’ or ‘sometimes’ between peers. How do these sexual abuses manifest? In what ways and forms do the sexual harassments perpetrated?

84% of sexually-abused UK schoolgirls were unreported

Examples of Sexual abuses in schools and public places

Examples of sexual harassment and abuses that can be found in middle, and high schools and even lower primary schools take different forms. There is some evidence that suggests access to technology and the sharing of inappropriate sexual content images and videos, including pornography are also issues in primary schools.

They include sending a girl sexual texts or audios or making sexual comments in the form of metaphors and using code words; sending pornography like nudes and dirty pictures against her will; making unwanted and unwelcome physical contact, such as touching, bumping, grabbing, or patting; making sexually-insulting remarks about race, gender, ability, appearance or class; bragging about sexual prowess for others to hear; intimidating sexual behaviours, which can include demeaning nicknames, homophobic name-calling, catcalls, rating, embarrassing whistles or other sexual bullying behaviours; graffiti with names written on walls or desks (a common example is: “for a good time, call…”); being followed around by another student or being stalked, and a few other forms.

3000 UK schools named in testimonial reports of sexual abuse and rape culture

7 Ways of sexual harassment of schoolchildren

1. Sexting/Cyber flashing

Sexting is when a person sends sexual messages, pictures, or videos to another person. Cyber flashing is the sending of unsolicited images or video recordings of genitals without consent, which disproportionately impacts women.

Research from YouGov has found that 4 in 10 (41%) millennial women in the UK have been sent an unsolicited photo of a man’s genitals without their consent. But recent research from Bumble suggests this could be even higher, with nearly half of those aged 18-24 receiving a sexual photo they did not ask for (48%) in the last year alone. According to a 2017 Pew Research Center study, over half of women ages, 18 to 29 have received an explicit image they never asked for.

Non-consensual sexting is about sending unwanted explicit sexual pictures or videos without the person’s consent. Sending a girl child pornographic videos, obscene pictures, films, messages, and nudes against her will is an act of sexual harassment is one of the ways they are sexually abused.

These obscene and explicit images are regularly sent on social media and messaging apps, through AirDrop, WiFi networks, or Bluetooth. Victims of Cyberflashing are not the subject of the images, but non-consenting recipients.

For example, if you are in a group chat for school and maybe there is this, sort of, passive comment “Oh, we know she knows about that” or sending inappropriate GIFs or memes.

While boys suffer sexual abuse, girls inexplicably suffer sexual abuse compared to boys: Nearly 90% of girls and nearly 50% of boys said being sent explicit pictures or videos of things they did not want to see happens a lot or sometimes to them or their peers.

Sexting and cyber flashing that both accounts for unsolicited explicit pictures or images form the tip of our toxic sexual behavior and attitude.

2. Sexist name-calling

Well-intended sexist nicknames that are given in the school or social circles or even in the neighbourhood by friends and peers are quite inappropriate and is a form of sexual harassment and one of the ways children are sexually abused. Sexual harassment has become “normalized” for schoolchildren, with around nine in 10 girls reporting incidents of sexist name-calling and being sent unwanted explicit pictures or videos, a damning review has found. . About 92% of girls and 74% of boys said sexist name-calling happens a lot or sometimes.

3. Verbal Sexual Abuse

Verbal Sexual Abuse is prevalent and is can be experienced in school, social settings, and at home. It is often given a pass in our culture as crude humor even though it does real harm. Some young people hear sexual and sexist comments about them by peers happening in schools and other places. The prevalent Verbal Sexual Abuse experienced in school, social settings, and at home include the use of spoken or written words to express, evoke, or imply sexual content. Examples of Verbal Sexual Abuse include sexual jokes, teasing about physical characteristics, like body parts, the size of boys or girls, poking fun at how tight or how loose the clothes are, making jokes about how somebody looks, and graphic sexual descriptions in conversations can be unwelcomed and uncomfortable graphic sexual descriptions, name-calling, comments on physical development, solicitation, unwanted romantic advances, sexting, and stalking with phone calls or other messages, etc.

Girls in schools similarly reported that some of the boys had a sense of entitlement. They talked about a sense of “male superiority” in the school. This is known as misogyny. They also share nudes and talk about whose “nudes” they have and share them among themselves.

Sexting also falls under the category of verbal sexual abuse and can appear more subtly than we may expect.

4. Upskirting

Upskirting is a way schoolgirl children are abused. Photo credit: peakpx.com

Upskirting is taking a sexually intrusive photograph of someone without their permission. It also involves seeing up women’s skirts from behind. Many girls, in schools, feel uncomfortable when boys walked behind them upstairs seeing up their skirts from below.

There have been incidents in which men have placed cameras on their shoes and photographed “up” a woman’s skirt to appease their sexual desire. Other instances have involved placing cameras under stairs where women in dresses or skirts were likely to pass by.

Upskirting can also include sexual or immoral photographing of topless female bathers at a public beach, covertly filming women undressing in their bedrooms, or installing a camera in a dressing room, public toilet, or a swimming pool changing room. These other instances are connected to school settings

5. Unwanted and unwelcome physical contact

This happens when a male student touches a girl sexually and inappropriately that she does not like and feels bad about it. Unwanted and unwelcome physical contact, such as touching, bumping, grabbing, or patting

More than half (54%) of those aged 16 and above said unwanted touching occurred a lot or sometimes, compared with 40% of 13 to 15-year-olds. 64% of girls said unwanted touching happened ‘a lot’ or ‘sometimes’ between peers

In 2010-2011, 13% of students in grades 7-12 reported experiencing unwanted sexual contact, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). One in four middle school students has experienced unwanted verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature at school.

The Ofsted report shed light on the all too common occurrence of boys sharing “nudes” among themselves like a “collection game” on platforms such as WhatsApp and Snapchat, while some girls said they experienced “unwanted touching in school corridors” as well as upskirting.

6. Female or sexual objectification

In one school, children reported boys giving girls marks out of 10 based on their physical appearance while they were travelling to and from school.

Sexual objectification is the treatment of women as objects and viewing their own bodies from the perspective of the person objectifying them – becoming preoccupied with their physical appearance with sexual intentions. It is a form of sexual abuse of schoolgirl children. Sexual objectification contributes to harmful gender stereotypes that normalize violence against girls.

7. Body shaming

Body shaming is known as the action or practice of expressing humiliation about another individual’s body shape or size; a form of bullying that can result in severe emotional trauma, especially at a young age. Body shaming is done by parents, siblings, friends, enemies, and schoolmates and is often portrayed in the media.

Some common examples of body shaming thoughts: “Why is she wearing that? It is not flattering at all.” and “I am so ugly compared to her I will never find a date” Negatively commenting about the size or shape of anyone’s body can be extremely damaging to them potentially leading to low-self-esteem, anger, self-harm and even mental health disorders, specifically body dysmorphic disorder.

Body shaming manifests in many ways: condemning your own appearance, through a judgment or comparison to another person, condemning another’s appearance in front of them and condemning another’s appearance without their knowledge.

Slut-shaming is a form of cyberbullying where girls are targeted on social media and bullied through degradation or humiliation for their sexuality. This means that girls are often ridiculed for the way they look, the way they dress, and their presumed level of sexual activity.

Pupils said “slut shaming” was common in schools. Leaders were aware of the need to change what they referred to as the “rugby culture”, but this did not translate to all staff recognizing the problem.

According to a study conducted by the American Association of University Women, slut-shaming is one of the most common forms of sexual harassment that students in middle and high school deal with.

Sexual abuse of UK pupils in schools is now a ‘’normal’’ practice

Forms of sexual abuse

We shall discuss 4 different forms of sexual abuse: Covert, physical, verbal and ritualistic

1. Verbal

Verbal Sexual Abuse includes the use of spoken or written words to express, arouse, or indicate sexual content. Verbal sexual abuse is prevalent and can be experienced in social settings, at work, and at home.

Examples of verbal sexual abuse include; sexual jokes, teasing about physical characteristics, graphic sexual descriptions, name calling, crude sexual, humour, comments on physical development, solicitation, unwanted romantic advances, sexting, and stalking with phone calls or other messages, etc.

2. Covert/Visual Sexual Abuse

Covert Sexual Abuse is a form of abuse is characterized by attempts by the perpetrator to get some form of sexual satisfaction from the victim without their knowledge, concealing his secret actions.

This includes being observed visually, followed, photographed, social media stalking, sexual cyber-harassment.

Some examples of Visual Sexual Abuse include unwanted or uninvited exposure to sexually explicit images, sexting/airdropping, exhibitionism/flashing, nudity or improper dress at home, and performing sexual acts while non-consenting individuals are present. Being exposed to unwanted sexual content visually is sexual abuse. Our culture is inundated with sexually-charged or sexually-explicit images.

3. Physical Sexual Abuse

Physical Sexual Abuse occurs when the abuser makes sexual physical contact with the victim of the assault.

Examples of Physical Sexual Abuse include non-consensual touching, fondling, physical restraint, cornering, tickling, kissing, excessive cleaning of genitals, enemas, intercourse, sodomy, oral sex, licking, brushing up against, urinating on, invasion of privacy, stalking.

4. Ritualistic

Ritualistic Sexual Abuse is sexual abuse blended with some form of spirituality and ritual.

In some instances of sexual abuse rituals, the perpetrator encourages or attempts to justify his actions as acts of repentance or worship of the abused target. This type of abuse may include early marriage, incest rituals, genital mutilation, and chanting or incantations during abuse.

This blog content on ‘Campaign against Sexual Abuse & Violence on Girl Children and Women: ‘How schoolchildren are sexually-abused in schools and public places‘ is categorized under @Childrenatloss – Sexual Abuse and Raped Culture-related posts in Kids & Students’ Education

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