Step Up, Speak Up!
Childnet International have created a practical campaign toolkit (Step Up, Speak Up) to address the issue of online sexual harassment amongst young people aged 13 – 17 years. Step Up, Speak Up! includes a range of resources for young people and the professionals who work with them, including teachers, pastoral teams, senior school leadership and police forces.
Why is it important to address the issue of online sexual harassment amongst young people?
A research report completed by Project deSHAME has highlighted that:
- 26% of 13-17 year olds have had rumours about their sexual behaviour shared online in the last year, with 65% saying that girls are judged more harshly for this than boys.
- 47% of 13-17 year olds have witnessed their peers editing photos of someone to make them sexual e.g. placing sexual emojis over them or adding different faces to pornographic images.
- 31% of 13-17 year olds have seen their peers create fake profiles of someone they know share sexual images, comments or messages.
Find out more in the Project deSHAME Research Report.
Online sexual harassment is unwanted sexual conduct on any digital platform and it is recognised as a form of sexual violence.
Online sexual harassment encompasses a wide range of behaviours that use digital content (images, videos, posts, messages, pages) on a variety of different platforms (private or public).
The Step Up, Speak Up toolkit specifically focuses on peer-to-peer online sexual harassment taking place between young people.
How to address the issues of online sexual harrassment amongst 13-17 year olds
If you are a teacher working with young peoples aged 13-17, click here to read the teaching toolkit.
If you work in a school, are looking to staff training or are a professional who works with young people, then please click here for the training for schools and professionals toolkit.
