Sheffield schoolkids take a stand against sexual harassment

A group of 14 year old girls in the city have started organising protests

Author: Ben BasonPublished 27th May 2021

A campaign's been launched by a group of Sheffield schoolgirls to try and tackle sexual harassment from an early age.

The 14 year olds have already held a protest to urge teachers and parents to take the problem more seriously and they plan to help teach younger students about the problem to spread awareness.

Stats show more than half of all 13 to 21 year old women face sexual harassment at school or college.

Amelie McLoughlin's one of those involved in organising the campaign - she says many girls experience it:

"It's something that needs to be discussed a lot more in schools - especially where we live. It's a very important thing for us because this is something that we've had to go through and will continue to have to go through as women, which really shouldn't be the case.

"It shouldn't be a thing where it's normalised to the point where it's expected but sadly at the moment it is. It is something that we all experience and have to go through, especially as teenagers.

"We really need to start educating the men around us and if you're a parent as well educating your sons about respect and boundaries and consent."

Dozens of young people turned up to their first protest on Devonshire Green last week and the group plan to organise more to highlight the issue.

Ziggy's another organiser - she says sexual harassment must be something that is stressed to boys from an early age:

"Schools are a place where you grow up and you learn to be a person. If boys aren't punished or disciplined when it comes to sexual harassment, and it's all 'boys will be boys' and 'they're just young', then when they grow up they're going to go on to do worse things and they're going to think it's acceptable."

The girls say they shouldn't have to grow up knowing they'll face harassment from boys and men.

Anya Billington's another of the group:

"It's really upsetting to know from a young age it's just a burden you're just going to have to shoulder. It's quite sad to realise it's just something every woman you know is going to go through."

"All girls were told, if a boy was chasing you in the playground or hitting you or pulling your hair, it was because he liked you, because he had a crush on you. And that just goes to show how normalised it is - people teach kids from a young age that it's alright and that it's affection and it's just a compliment which it isn't."

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