Sex education lessons should engage boys to tackle “a scourge” of sexual harassment and violence in schools, according to a group of MPs.
An inquiry by the Women and Equalities Committee heard relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) was “less applicable” to boys than to girls.
According to The BBC:
It is calling for lessons to be made compulsory in sixth forms and colleges.
The government says it is developing further guidance for schools.
The inquiry found that some schools were still not acknowledging the problem of violence against women and girls, while many lacked the funding and time to deliver RSHE effectively.
Young people are making their first steps into the adult world “under-supported and less equipped” to navigate potentially “dangerous situations”, the committee warned.
Their inquiry heard how easy access to pornography had “completely changed the culture in the playground” and it was having a “very corrosive impact within schools”.
One session heard tales of boys “cyberflashing hardcore pornographic images at girls in the corridor, and airdropping nude images to other students in class”.
Several witnesses said boys were unlikely to engage with RSHE learning if they were shamed, or put on the spot.
The committee is calling on the government, as part of its review into sex education, to develop a specific strategy for engaging with boys and young men on the topics of sexual harassment and gender-based violence.
It recommends that all teachers should be trained on how to engage male pupils in conversations that “challenge prevailing gender norms” and ideas of masculinity.
Thousands of school-aged children posted online testimonies of sexual assault and harassment in schools in 2021 – in what became known as the Everyone’s Invited movement.
Caroline Nokes, chair of the committee, said “whilst there have been some positive steps since the Everyone’s Invited movement exposed how widespread the problem is, there is clearly more to do to improve safeguarding and education”.
