There has been widespread concern at last week’s survey results from Christchurch Girls’ High School pupils reporting high levels of sexual harassment and at least 20 rape allegations.
Nearly 60% of the 725 pupils who took part said they had been harassed, with more than a quarter of them reporting such instances occurred 10 times or more. Males, either teenagers or older men made up 91% of the sexual harassers and the incidents occurred at social events, on the streets, on public transport and online.
While many of us are aware at some level of the issue, the survey highlights the ubiquitous nature of it, the lack of reporting of incidents and the fact, as CGHS principal Christine O’Neill put it, the pupils have normalised this behaviour. It all adds to the shock.
Ms O’Neill and the school’s board are to be applauded for having the gumption to commission the survey, for their openness about the results with their school community and the wider public, and their willingness to help those pupils affected in a sensitive and appropriate way.
The same cannot be said for all schools’ attitude to issues involving any bad behaviour with sexual implications with some showing considerable reluctance to discuss the issue publicly (as our reporters have found recently).
Change in attitudes will not be brought about by ignoring these issues. But there is some way to go.
Fewer than a 10th of the girls surveyed who had experienced sexual harassment or sexual violence received any help or support and most did not mention asking for help. What many did though was alter their dress or behaviour in the hope of avoiding further unwanted attention.
Of course, schools cannot solve the whole of the problem, but the survey results have drawn attention to the piecemeal and hit-and-miss approach to these issues in schools.
The Education Review Office’s research published in 2018 evaluating how well schools were delivering comprehensive sexuality education showed coverage was inconsistent.
Schools were covering puberty and biological aspects of sexuality, but more in-depth coverage of issues such as consent, digital technology, sexual violence, and pornography was confined to fewer than half of the 116 schools visited.
New relationships and sexuality education guidelines were released last year but how these are ultimately implemented is up to individual schools.
There have been calls for a nation-wide survey on the issue of sexual harassment, like that recently conducted by the United Kingdom’s Office of Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills.
That survey showed that girls said they did not want to talk about sexual abuse even where their school encouraged them to. They feared being ostracised by peers, or getting peers into trouble, worried how adults would react because they would not be believed, that they would be blamed and that once they talked to an adult the process would be out of their control.
It also found professionals consistently underestimated the prevalence of online sexual abuse even when there was a proactive whole-school approach to tackling sexual harassment and violence.
Here, data is expected next year from the first national Youth Health and Wellbeing survey WhatAboutMe? by the Ministry of Social Development involving around 14,000 young people aged between 13 and 18 (years 9 to 13). This will cover issues such as self-harm, pornography, consensual sexual activity, unwanted sexual contact, and where young people go for advice/help about sex and relationships.
In the meantime, more urgency is needed for a cohesive approach to ways to tackle these issues, both in schools and the wider community, to ensure all our young people are safe and feel safe.
As Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft says, ‘‘they should never have to feel on guard, or constantly fearful of being hurt or harassed. That is not and should never be normal’’.
