Girls tell online survey sexual bullying is rife in schools

Feb 28 2008 by Our Correspondent, Western Mail

MANY girls claim they have been sexually bullied by boys at school, according to a survey released today.

Schoolgirl readers of Sugar magazine complained of boys touching them inappropriately, staring at their bodies and “making sexual comments”.

Such “harassment” often takes place in the classroom but teachers are rarely told, according to the survey.

Campaigners called on schools to do more to tackle the problem.

Claude Knights, from anti-bullying charity Kidscape, said, “Schools aren’t doing enough to tackle harassment. They should be developing effective policies for dealing with sexual bullying events.”

The online survey of 2,655 Sugar readers, aged between 12 and 18, found:

80% said they had experienced at least one kind of inappropriate sexual behaviour from boys; and,

Only 2% told a teacher or another adult as girls were too scared to say anything or felt nothing would be done.

Annabel Brog, editor of Sugar, said, “It is shocking to hear about the level of sexual bullying that is actually going on within the school grounds.

“It’s very sad that so many girls are too embarrassed or confused to speak out against it.

“It’s another example of today’s teenage girls not having clear mental, emotional and physical boundaries about what is and isn’t acceptable.”