Abstract
Drawing from semi-structured interviews with seven safeguarding leads, focus groups and quantitative surveys with 480 young people aged 13–18, webinar training with 50 teachers and online survey responses from 13 of these webinar participants, this chapter explores the feminist pedagogical and activist practices that informs our development of Online Sexual Harassment guidance and recommendations for schools. Our key argument is that school policies need to move beyond the limitations of the law in order for schools and other service providers to protect children at a time when online sexual harassment, gendered hate, xenophobia, ableism and racism are on the rise. We conclude that a concerted move among educators is necessary to recognise and record the nature of gendered sexual risk and harms happening to young people, and create a culture and climate shift within schools.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
Details of the Digital Sexual Cultures Feminist Research and Engagement Consortium can be found here: https://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/media/research/featured-projects-1/digital-sexual-cultures-feminist-research-and-engagement-consortium.
- 2.
We are very grateful to Sophie Whitehead, our research assistant, for conducting the safeguarding interviews and writing up the initial report of the findings.
References
Braun, V., & Clark. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3, 77–101.
Busby, E. (2020). Schools can delay teaching compulsory sex education lessons until Summer 2021. Msn.com, June 4. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/schools-can-delay-teaching-compulsory-sex-education-lessons-until-summer-2021/ar-BB152tr0.
Davies, S. (2020). Revenge porn soars in Europe’s coronavirus lockdown as student fights back. Reuters, 5 May. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-europe-porn-trfn-idUSKBN22H2I6.
Department for Education. (2020). Relationship and Sex Education (RSE) and health education. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education.
Dobson, A. S., & Ringrose, J. (2016). Sext education: Pedagogies of sex, gender and shame in the schoolyards of Tagged and Exposed. Sex Education-Sexuality Society and Learning, 16(1), 8–21.
Döring, N. (2014). Consensual sexting among adolescents: Risk prevention through abstinence education or safer sexting? Journal of Psychological Research on Cyberspace, 8, 1, Article 9. https://doi.org/10.5817/CP2014-1-9.
Haripersad, Y. V., Kannegiesser-Bailey, M., Morton, K., et al. (2020). Outbreak of anorexia nervosa admissions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Archives of Disease in Childhood. https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2020-319868.
Internet Watch Foundation. (2020). ‘Definite jump’ as hotline sees 50% increase in public reports of online child sexual abuse during lockdown, 16 July. https://www.iwf.org.uk/news/%E2%80%98definite-jump%E2%80%99-as-hotline-sees-50-increase-public-reports-of-online-child-sexual-abuse-during#:~:text=There%20has%20been%20a%2050,Internet%20Watch%20Foundation%20during%20lockdown.&text=Of%20the%20public%20reports%2C%205%2C367,were%20actioned%20by%20the%20IWF.
Kreger, M., Brindis, C. D., Manuel, D. M., & Sassoubre, L. (2007). Lessons learned in systems change initiatives: Benchmarks and indicators. American Journal of Community Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-007-9108-14.
McGlynn, C., & Johnson, K. (2021). Criminalising cyberflashing: Options for law reform. Journal of Criminal Law, 85(3), 171–188.
McGlynn, C., & Rackley, E. (2019). Image-based sexual abuse. Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 37(3), 534–561.
Mendes, K., Ringrose, J., & Keller, J. (2019). Digital feminist activism: Girls and women fight back against rape culture. Oxford University Press.
Plan International UK. (2020). https://plan-uk.org/media-centre/new-research-shows-barrier-to-girls-rights-exacerbated-by-coronavirus-crisis.
Ricciardelli, R., & Adorjan, M. (2018). ‘If a girl’s photo gets sent around, that’s a way bigger deal than if a guy’s photo gets sent around’: Gender, sexting, and the teenage years. Journal of Gender Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2018.1560245.
Ringrose, J. (2008). ‘Every time she bends over she pulls up her thong’: Teen girls negotiating discourses of competitive, heterosexualized aggression. Girlhood Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 1(1): 33–59.
Ringrose, J. (2013). Postfeminist education? Girls and the sexual politics of schooling. Routledge.
Ringrose, J., Gill, R., Livingstone, S., & Harvey, L. (2012). A qualitative study of children, young people and ‘sexting’: A report prepared for the NSPCC. National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. London, UK.
Ringrose, J. Mendes, K., Whitehead, S., & Jenkinson, A. (2021a). Resisting rape culture online and at school: The pedagogy of digital defence and feminist activism lessons. In Y. Odenbring & T. Johansson (Eds.), Violence, victimisation and young people: Education and safe learning environments (pp. 129–154). London: Springer.
Ringrose, J., Regehr, K., & Milne, B. (2021b). Understanding and combatting youth experiences of image based sexual harassment & abuse. School of Sexuality Education & Association of School and College Leaders. https://schoolofsexed.org/ibsh-ibsa-report.
Ringrose, J., Regehr, K., & Whitehead, S. (2021c). Teen girls’ experiences negotiating the ubiquitous dick pic: Sexual double standards and the normalization of image based sexual harassment. Sex Roles. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-021-01236-3.
Ringrose, J., Whitehead, S., Regehr, K., & Jenkinson, A. (2019). Play-Doh Vulvas and Felt Tip Dick Pics: Disrupting phallocentric matter(s) in sex education. Reconceptualizing Educational Research Methodology, 10(2–3), 259–291. https://doi.org/10.7577/rerm.3679.
School of Sexuality Education; Mendes, K., Ringrose, J., & Horeck, T. (2020a). Online sexual harassment comprehensive guidance for schools. School of Sexuality Education. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/57dbe276f7e0abec416bc9bb/t/5f86b37c409ee95b26cf27e6/1602663308003/School+of+Sex+Ed+OSH+Comprehensive+Guidance.pdf.
School of Sexuality Education; Mendes, K., Ringrose, J., & Horeck, T. (2020b). Online sexual harassment guidance for students. School of Sexuality Education. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/57dbe276f7e0abec416bc9bb/t/5f86b397b2e54d10a44ae46f/1602663355088/School+of+Sex+Ed+OSH+Guidance+for+Students.pdf.
School of Sexuality Education, Mendes, K., Ringrose, J., & Horeck, T. (2020c). Online sexual harassment school policy. School of Sexuality Education. Available at: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/57dbe276f7e0abec416bc9bb/t/5f86b3b1117dd72a57c88d48/1602663347896/School+of+Sex+Ed+OSH+School+Policy.pdf.
Smith, M. (2018). Four in ten female millennials have been sent an unsolicited penis photo. YouGov, 16 Feb. https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2018/02/16/four-ten-female-millennials-been-sent-dick-pic.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the University of Leicester for QR funding and the AHRC (AH/T008938/1) for supporting some of the research underpinning this chapter.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Horeck, T., Mendes, K., Ringrose, J. (2021). Digital Defence in the Classroom: Developing Feminist School Guidance on Online Sexual Harassment for Under 18s. In: Powell, A., Flynn, A., Sugiura, L. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Gendered Violence and Technology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83734-1_31
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83734-1_31
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-83733-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-83734-1
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)