The Journey of Producing ‘Weaving Stories of Peer Sexual Abuse’
Originally posted on LinkedIn by Artistic Director Kate Gorman between 30 July 2024 and 6 February 2025
Exploring the Power of “Uncomfortable”
I’m currently producing Changing Relations C.I.C.’s Weaving Stories of Peer Sexual Abuse project. With young people at Parkview School in Chester-le-Street, our creative team has been exploring the behaviors linked to this that make them feel “uncomfortable” (whether that is in school or beyond).
It’s an innocuous word, right?
But input from our academic evaluator Janelle Rabe suggested it was a powerful word to use with the young people, that it would open up discussions…
And she was right.
Young people talked about people smiling at them. Young people talked about people staring at them. Whistles. Inappropriate comments. Name-calling. Requesting nude pictures be sent.
All within the frame of things that make them feel “uncomfortable.”
I’m so glad we didn’t use the term “low level,” which is how Ofsted describes some of the sexual attitudes and behaviors in schools that can tend to be overlooked.
Which of these things wouldn’t have come up if we had? Which of these things don’t matter? Which of these things would the young people working with us have felt they “ought” not to admit to bothering them, even though they do?
Creativity, Consent, and the Making of an Animation
Young people and the power of creativity never cease to amaze me.
I’ve been waiting to be able to write this post. I’ve waited because I needed to have the consent of the young people who created this animation. Conceptually, I could just have shared it without asking—many people do this…presume consent. But what is the message that I give if I presume consent?
Consent is so often discussed in a purely sexual context – but we experience and learn about consent in our everyday encounters in a hugely powerful way. Our everyday encounters with consent (whether that is being made to hug someone we don’t want to as a child or being pressured into doing something by our friends) inform our understanding and capacity for consent in a sexual context.
So, I didn’t just share this animation. I waited for consent. The team made it clear that the young people were absolutely allowed to say that they didn’t want the animation to be shared and that that was absolutely fine. But I’m very glad that they did allow me to share it.
So….week 2 of a project looking at young people’s experience of peer sexual abuse. Facilitator Sheryl Jenkins introduces the groups of students from Parkview School who are participating in the Weaving Stories of Peer Sexual Abuse project to some stop-start animation software and some “kit.” They muck around experimenting for a bit and then move on to thinking about creating a mini animation about behaviors that make them feel uncomfortable. Half an hour later, we have some cracking animations of which this is a brilliant example…
The power of creativity…look what rolled off their imaginations grounded in their experiences…I was chilled the first time I saw it (maybe the second too). I can’t wait to watch their journey as they continue working on the project in the autumn.
Co-Production in Action: The Script That Speaks the Truth
Working on a co-production project takes time.
A lot of time.
But we’re now in the midst of key project points where you can see things coming together on Weaving Stories of Peer Sexual Abuse – the project I’m currently working on for Changing Relations C.I.C.
I love it when you reach this stage. My tummy stops rumbling with quite so many anxious “what ifs” and starts to bubble with excitement instead.
A few weeks ago, we shared a draft script for our animation with the young people who are working with us. The script is entirely fictional, but the young people were clear that it felt true to them.
Comments included:
- “This is the most accurate thing I have ever read.”
- “The characters feel like real people I know.”
- “Not only are the people fake, they are real.”
Participating students, school staff, academic researchers, and our partners at RSACC all told us that the script reflected young people’s experiences.
This is the power of co-production. The script reflects young people’s experiences because they have been involved in shaping it. Our super talented creative team (Sheryl Jenkins, Izaak Gledhill, Bridie Jackson, Zoe Murtagh, and Tracy Thomas) have created an environment that has enabled the young people involved to tell it how it really is. And wow, have they told it how it is.
I’m so excited to share the other things that have been and are taking shape over the next few weeks!
Illustrating the Stories: The Journey from Sketch to Screen
It starts with a screenshot.
I know…
This sounds like it could end so badly.
In a project about peer sexual abuse among teenagers, “it starts with a screenshot” is a loaded sentence full of the foreboding of intimate image sharing.
However, in this case, “it starts with a screenshot” is full of excitement and anticipation.
Back in September, the young people involved in Weaving Stories of Peer Sexual Abuse shortlisted illustrators for the project team to recruit from. They had some interesting insights and were pretty aligned in who they felt we should interview (and actually who their favorite illustrator was, on paper).
Following interviews, we chose to work with Tom Kindley (also the “paper” favorite of the young people), and he subsequently facilitated a couple of sessions with them to get a feel of how they wanted the characters in the animation to appear. He was a big hit and drew out some cool, occasionally contradictory, and sometimes exceedingly specific ideas and visions. Some of the ideas also represent very powerful perspectives on the script, and I look forward to seeing these put into action.
Tom then disappeared from sight until we got our first images of what he was developing pinging through on email and WhatsApp.
You see…
It starts with a screenshot…
…and then quite a lot more of them!
The Final Reveal: Seeing Their Work Come to Life
On Friday, we shared the final animation from Weaving Stories with the students at Park View School who have so wholeheartedly created it with us.
I loved watching their shy smiles, outright grins, nudges, and quiet comments as they watched the animation. You could see them picking out the things that they had directly created and the things they had influenced. But more than that, you could see the “Ohhhhhhhh” as the overall impact hit them.
Although they’ve been involved in every single step of its production (including giving advice and feeding back on draft versions of the animation), seeing a final thing is a completely different experience. I think that this is the first time that they really had the emotional hit—both of the impact the animation has on an audience and the “Wow! We did something that good!”
What Schools Are Up Against
It was interesting for us to read Anna Fazackerley’s recent article in The Guardian about peer sexual violence in schools (https://lnkd.in/gKnfRSmf)…
About its prevalence.
About specialist organisations (such as Rape Crisis England & Wales) flagging the need for schools to receive much clearer guidance on how to deal with peer sexual abuse effectively.
About Paul Whiteman of the NAHT – The school leaders’ union saying that schools need high-quality training and sufficient services to turn to for advice.
It made us think of all the conversations we’ve had during the project…
With the young people for whom abusive behavior is entirely normalized.
With teachers working both with people who have been harmed and who have harmed.
With some of the brilliant academics working in this field.
With counselors supporting those who have been sexually abused by their peers.
With parents of those who have been sexually abused.
Everyone is ultimately asking for the same thing: for young people who have been harmed to be better cared for and for more effective ways of preventing the harm from happening to start with.
A Project Made Possible by Collaboration
Weaving Stories of Peer Sexual Abuse is a Changing Relations C.I.C. project in partnership with Rape and Sexual Abuse Counselling Centre – Darlington and Co. Durham and Parkview School. We’re hugely grateful for funding and support from:
- VISION team at City St George’s, University of London
- Arts Council England
- People’s Postcode Lottery
- The National Lottery Community Fund
This project has been made possible by their support—and by the courage, creativity, and voices of the young people who brought it to life.