We claim to be at the leading edge of gender equality in our country and yet, at times, I fear we are actually taking giant leaps backwards.
I fear that society is changing at such a pace that we are unable to control new threats to gender equality, not least when it comes to issues of sex and relationships.
The battleground is surely in our young people, where the manifestation of a seemingly new modern culture that so often serves to justify the sexual harassment, objectification and bullying of women can be seen.
I don’t pretend to imply that this has not been a problem in past generations, but new technologies and, to me, the nature of our increasingly object and money-driven (and celebrity and fame-obsessed society) seems to have taken us to a whole new level. Today, so much of life is about what you look like and I think this deeply affects our attitudes.
And if we have young people today – the future working generation – who are developing entrenched attitudes that see women as nothing more than sexual objects, then what hope of achieving gender equality across society in all areas?
These new threats to sexual equality are, in some ways, very clear. Ubiquitous technology offers easy access to often hard core and violent pornography and this is changing how young people act and think.
As such, issues and lines of consent are becoming blurred, young males expect and demand certain things and young women are made to feel that certain things are “normal behaviour” – that satisfying the man is the goal of any relationship. Professor Tanya Byron at last year’s SSAT conference touched upon these issues. She discussed evidence that young people today even think of pubic hair as dirty because of the influence of pornography.
Evidence given earlier this month before an inquiry into the extent of sexual harassment and violence in schools suggests that we have a serious problem. MPs on the Women and Equalities Select Committee heard that online porn has led to an increased acceptable of sexual violence and harassment. Hard core and explicit pornography is now the norm online and “involves the routine punishment of women’s bodies as entertainment”.
Disturbingly, MPs were told that rather than tackling this issue with boys directly, pressure instead is being put on girls to change their behaviour – such as by wearing shorts under their skirts to stop boys from revealing their underwear. I don’t need to explain why this is a dangerous trend to set.
As I mentioned above, consent is a key problem. The MPs heard this too. Young people are being given “unrealistic and harmful attitudes about gender, sex and consent”, according to Jo Sharpen from Against Violence and Abuse. Poor quality sex and relationships education (SRE) in many schools is then compounding this problem.
The experts giving evidence also said that part of the problem is wider societal attitudes and this is something I have been concerned about for a long time. Society in general objectifies women to such a degree that boys, from a very young age, quickly begin to think of girls and women in certain ways.
It begins with the pink clothes for girls and the blue clothes for boys. The toy tractor or fire engine for boys and the dolls’ house or miniature kitchen cooker for girls. This expands to stereotyping professions (the female nurse, the male mechanic). It is also our expectations that girls wear pretty and revealing clothes (and make-up) while boys can wear what they like.
Our entire entertainment industry, from films to television, not to mention marketing and advertising, reinforce these social stereotypes. Advertising has a lot of answer for in its cynical use of sex and objectification to sell products.
One point to come out of the hearing was that Ofsted’s inspection framework includes racist, disability and homophobic bullying, but not sexism. This seems one easy change that could be made tomorrow.
Ultimately, though, all of this makes PSHE and SRE among the most important subjects in schools today. But the government continues to ignore the wealth of evidence and expert opinion on this matter.
I am incredibly frustrated that – given the extent to which the Department for Education interferes in what and how schools should teach – it refuses to intervene to make PSHE and SRE statutory national curriculum subjects (with a clear programme of study to address these and other key issues).
This is because many Tory MPs still hold the backwards, unevidenced and idiotic view that teaching children explicitly about sex will encourage them to do it. Just read some MPs’ comments in debates on the issue over the years – they beggar belief. The DfE should be acting in the interests of our nation’s children. But once again policy is formed to keep backbenchers onside and a party in government. Shameful.
- Pete Henshaw is the editor of SecEd and has been writing on education for more than 10 years. Email editor@sec-ed.co.uk