Engendering respect for women at an early age
Sexism is a pervasive problem in all levels of society, ranging from small undermining comments to full blown physical attack. Just in conversation with the women on my course, almost everyone has a few stories of random sexual assault. One story involves a guy rubbing his erection on my bare leg in a crowded carriage, another had her breasts groped as a man alighted the train. This is in just one group of friends. When this qualitative view is put into context with some data, it draws a pretty terrifying picture. A woman in the UK has a one in five chance of being a victim of sexual assault. Women in urban areas are twice as likely to experience violence as men worldwide. This is not an issue that is going away anytime soon.
At the Hay Festival 2014, Laura Bates spoke at length about The Everyday Sexism Project. Drawing together the experiences of women all over the world shows that this is not an unusual phenomenon. Listening to this articulate, softly spoken woman reel off the stories of others in the most graphic and violent language is an eye-opener. She talked about projecting the definition of sexual assault on to a wall in a school, to have the students not believe it, because to them, it was their everyday experience. It is staggering that these young women have come to accept abuse as a natural occurrence.
Sexism exists in many facets of our society, from the disproportionate number of men in business and the vast underrepresentation of women in our supposedly representational democracy, it continues through to the objectification of women in music videos, clothing adverts and films, and the casual misogyny in pop music. The average age a child is first exposed to hardcore pornography is 11 years old. This gives a twisted view of what should be expected in a sexual relationship, leading to young people absorbing this lack of respect into their own understanding of their place in society, and normalizing sexually aggressive behaviour. If sexual inequality permeates attitudes at a young age, we must ask what we can do to stop it.
The national curriculum is frustratingly vague on what must be taught in the context of sex and relationship education. The basic mechanics are covered in maintained schools, but free schools and academies are not required to teach on the subject. Sexual attitudes, consent, and respectful relationships are not prescribed at all. It could be argued that relationship education is the purview of parents and I do not disagree with this. I think that it is important that children learn a lot about respect from their parents. However, how likely is it that parents have addressed the issues raised by exposure to hardcore pornography with their 11-year-old, let alone had a discussion about respect in relationships? There are many children in the UK where this example is not reflected in their family life. In 2011, around 950,000 children were affected by domestic violence. It seems to me that we have a responsibility to make sure that all children are being taught about what a healthy relationship looks like, with state education underlining the things that many parents are showing their children. We want our children to be able to challenge attitudes that treat women with a lack of respect, and it is our duty to give them the tools to do it by making relationship education part of the national curriculum.
by: Anique Liiv