Director’s Blog – Lisa Charlotte Davis
Within our Weaving Stories animation, we see the character of Olivia tries to catch the teacher’s attention but is drowned out by the louder contribution to class discussion of the boy who is touching her leg under the table, leaving her visibly upset.
But what the young people made sure to include within the story, is an example of one of the lads speaking up, calling out his mate for the clearly unwanted sexual behaviour.
He says “I saw what you did to Olivia” in a heated exchange.
When we work with young people, we make sure to highlight that, in considering whether to Speak Up when we see harmful behaviour happening in front of us, we have to make sure to consider whether it is safe for us to do so. But it is powerful to see examples of young people being prepared to stand up and call each other out.
It is sobering to note in Ofsted‘s Review of Sexual Abuse in Schools that in the year prior to publication (2021), girls aged between 15 and 17 reported the highest annual rates of sexual abuse for young people and children aged 25 and younger.
64% of the girls Ofsted surveyed reported that unwanted touching happened ‘a lot’ or ‘sometimes.’
Let’s empower young people to normalise speaking out instead of feeling like they have to suck it up!
Image credit Tom Kindley Sheryl Jenkins
