From ‘Avoid’ to ‘Educate’: Make PSHE Lessons about the Root of Sexual Assault & Discriminatory Violence Mandatory.

Too many people are scared to walk the streets - but we will do something about it.

For far too long we have put up with information on how to 'protect' ourselves, of how to 'avoid' being attacked. Keys in the hand. Don't walk home at night. Enough is enough.

We do not want to learn how to escape danger; we need to teach how to stop it.

We demand that PSHE lessons on sexual assault and violence, specifically discussing its interrelationship with discrimination, become mandatory.

We demand that the educational narrative moves from how to avoid it to how to prevent it. Rape culture and discriminatory violence, including murder and sexual assault, need to be pulled out by the root. 

The victims do not need to be blamed - the perpetrators need to be educated. When women are abducted or killed walking home at night, we do not need police officers or educators telling us to 'avoid walking home alone' - we belong there, we deserve to feel safe - in daylight and darkness - that is our home. What we need is to reshift the angle when it comes to this topic - in a real, tangible way.

What do we mean by this? We mean that horrific crimes do not come out of nowhere.

We set a precedence for what we allow - when we don't thoroughly teach about consent, when we don't teach about toxic masculinity, when we don’t encourage men to interrupt worrying behaviour, when we don't talk about sexism and how it presents itself in real life situations - they become the building blocks which mean that people are scared to walk home alone at night. Discrimination and violence or assault are not two seperate topics - they are interlinked. 

Children need to be educated to: 

1. Identify behaviours that contribute to rape culture

2. Respond constructively to these behaviours

3. Shut them down and encourage their peers to do the same

Just because you are not directly causing a crime - does not mean you are not adding to a culture that allows it. Everyone must move to understand this.

These are the conversations that are NECESSARY to be had in school - and from a young age. They should be built into the curriculum; instead of surface deep conversations that don’t get to the cause. 

We know we want to protect children - and we should - but are we really protecting them when we allow them to grow up in a society where 97% of women have been sexually harassed. It isn’t just one offs, or individuals who are inherently evil - it IS embedded into society. Isn't it time to start asking WHY this happens?

We are only being told part of the story - we are told that it happens, we are not taught why - and so we cannot change from it. The narrative of our lessons need to evolve.

This is not a conversation to pinpoint blame; it is a conversation to attack the CAUSE of the issue and work together to actually build a safe society.

We demand an evaluation of the PSHE Curriculum to incorporate this dialogue into lessons. 

The emphasis has been on the victims to create change for too long - the responsibility lies with all of us.

No longer should the emphasis be on protection, but EDUCATION.