If we say no: stories of sexual harassment in our local schools
shepwayvox
My name is Claire and I am Alison for the purposes of this blog post. Both of us are school pupils and attend academies in the Folkestone & Hythe District. Both of us have and continue to be sexually harassed, we do so in the context of pupil on pupil sexual harassment.
Mon to Friday we receive sexual comments, such as boys huddled together telling sexual stories of their prowess over the weekend, very loudly. They make lewd and unwelcome sexual remarks about our breasts, legs, faces, hair, our clothes and our appearance. At 15 and 16 years old, we have been called “slags”, “whores” and “bitches” and plenty of other crude names. We have been taunted for not doing what some boys want. This is our and many other girls daily reality, Monday to Friday
To receive such unwanted comments and behaviour from such immature boys, is damaging and wearing. It plays with your head.
But it doesn’t stop there. We are a generation who have grown up with online sexual harassment and unwanted sexual comments and messages, especially on social media. We have both suffered threats to do things or else.
And before you say have we reported it, of course we have. Raised it with our form teacher and other staff within the school, but they are powerless to prevent unwanted social media advances.
Little is done as it is so often our word against theirs. We fear going to school some days and it really should NOT be like this, but it is. Our mums have intervened as have our dads, but we were reluctant to tell them initially. Scared to talk to our own parents, is that normal? No of course it is not.
So today Monday, we will set off to our respective schools, to no doubt hear more unwelcome and unwanted comments and yes we’ll report them, but as we said little if anything will be done.
We are grateful to the Shepwayvox Team for allowing us to use their platform to raise this issue. We have written to the local newspapers, but they have chosen not to raise this issue which is important to all teenagers boys and girls.
We – Claire and I, ask all schools and all heads to become more aware of this issue in schools. There are many of us who today need support and we hope our schools will begin to give it to us.
