Over more recent years there has been an increasing awareness of the reality behind the highly sexualised culture in which we live. Developments in this area continue, however, it is complex as society tries to balance the freedom of teenagers to make choices for themselves, with the pressures and dangers that are present in the society in which we live.

The 2017 report referenced here can be found at:

Sexual harassment and sexual violence in schools (parliament.uk)

Further guidance was published in 2021 and is available here:

Sexual violence and sexual harassment between children in schools and colleges (publishing.service.gov.uk)

One aspect of this has been a drive towards an understanding of healthy and unhealthy relationships including the importance of consent.

There are a number of useful explainer videos for different age groups. You may have seen these already but here are a few of them.

And there is young person’s version too for older children.

The following video is aimed at adults.

The allegations and concerns about Jimmy Savile gained momentum after his death in late 2011 and ultimately led to a major police investigation and the establishment of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. (IICSA Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse)

The #MeToo movement dates back to the early 2000’s but came to prominence in 2015-16, initially in Hollywood and in relation to, particularly in relation to the Harvey Winestain scandal, but then expanding out across many sectors of society.

As an acknowledgement of the scale and pervasiveness of grew, it was only a matter of time before attention turned to schools and young people. Concerns around sexting, upskirting and sexual harassment grew in prominence and were included in “Keeping children safe in education”.

In June 2020 Soma Sara began sharing her experiences of “rape culture” on social media. This gave rise to the “Everyone’s invited” website and movement (Welcome – Everyone’s Invited (everyonesinvited.uk) movement rapidly gained prominence as tens of thousands of people began to share their experiences; many of them young people. This then gave rise to an investigation by Ofsted into sexual harassment and violence in schools. (Ofsted: culture change needed to tackle ‘normalised’ sexual harassment in schools and colleges – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk))

The murder of Sarah Everard in March 2021 underlined the serious nature of the problem of violence against women and girls.

Further information can be found here:

Tackling violence against women and girls strategy – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Stop It Now! UK and Ireland | Preventing child sexual abuse