Sexual Harassment of Girls and Young Women

Iam64

Why do you dismiss porn as a negative contributor to the other issues you raise trisher? I agree with the rest of your post, though I’m not sure you’re turning into a grumpy old woman. It’s been an awful week newswise

I think it contributes Iam64 but I don't think it is the main driver. If we hadn't a culture that encourages and promotes the negative attitudes it does we might have a different sort of porn.I agree it is tangled in the whole thing, but it is the normalising of a lack of sympathy and consideration for other people that means porn caters for those and simply takes them further than other forms of entertainment.

Porn used to be much more difficult to access. The fact it’s now available on any mobile phone normalises it’s use. It’s im[ossible to have worked with abuse not to make the connection with porn

Anyone else find most newspapers are hypocritical about this subject? They print article after article condemning the harassment of women yet next to those articles are pictures of scantily dressed women with headlines like "** shows off her stunning figure".

Negative attitudes to women have been around since time began .Peter Sutcliffe wouldn’t have had internet porn. Over the last few decades some attitudes have been seen to be unacceptable ...look at comedy shows on the tv and
Harassment in the workplace. However any improvement through education has in my view been eroded by extreme porn. I have no personal experience but have read several reports on the subject.

Oldwoman70

Anyone else find most newspapers are hypocritical about this subject? They print article after article condemning the harassment of women yet next to those articles are pictures of scantily dressed women with headlines like "** shows off her stunning figure".

Yes yes a thousand times yes

I remember 30 years ago ( she was 9) my dd came home from a school friends house and told me her friend had shown her her ( policeman’) father’s hidden stash of porn magazines. I was really shocked I know however it’s so incredibly easy now to access and it’s much ‘harder’.

Back in the day porn was accessible in magazines, newspapers and books.
It isn't long ago women were going mad over 50 Shades of Grey.
I don't think you can lay assaults of women at the door of internet porn.
As with racism, misogyny is institutional and in the every day experiences of women.
We may never fully fix the problem, but awareness of how we regard women in society as not deserving of the freedoms men enjoy is a start.

It's absolutely awful what young girls are experiencing today, I perceive my early teen years were nothing like as traumatic. I read an awful article in The Times the other day, mentioned one public school in south London that was ridden with complaints from young women as to how male pupils treat their female peer group, I imagine that it's not confined to any particular type of school from what I read it's endemic. Pornography must play a part it's just too accessible and I have no doubt warps the minds of the susceptible young people who view that. I thought the page 3 pin up culture of the '70s was awful at the time the way that men used it as a yard stick to judge and appraise other women. I shudder for my granddaughter, still a little girl at aged 10 and all the other young girls on the cusp of adolescence. How mentally and physically to scarring be subjected to pernicious sexual bullying, harassment and worse.

keepingquiet

Back in the day porn was accessible in magazines, newspapers and books.
It isn't long ago women were going mad over 50 Shades of Grey.
I don't think you can lay assaults of women at the door of internet porn.
As with racism, misogyny is institutional and in the every day experiences of women.
We may never fully fix the problem, but awareness of how we regard women in society as not deserving of the freedoms men enjoy is a start.

I’ve always been curious about the appeal of 50 shades. My daughters and one of their mums in law tried to read it after all the hype. Books in the bin because they all said it was badly written c**p

I agree with you that internet porn can’t be blamed for assaults on women. I can’t believe it doesn’t contribute to women being coerced, expected to consent to sexual practices they find painful or distasteful

I must lead a very sheltered life. No one I know or any of my children or grandchildren have ever been remotely interested in porn. They are too busy living their lives, going out with friends and enjoying themselves. Strewth.

Not sure this is pertinent to this thread regarding young women and girls, but definitely relevant to continuing harassment of women per se, particularly after the awful and wicked murder of Sarah. I was shocked to read an article in the Mail on line this morning, together with accompanying CCTV footage, woman walking home in the dark, minding her own business in a village near Stratford on Avon, assaulted and verbally abused by a drunk off duty police officer. The footage is quite extreme imo. he actually tries to wrestle her to the ground, his language abusive in the extreme calling her a f**** s**g, a complete stranger to him who does her best to fight him off. His sentence for this assault, community service and to pay this poor woman a paltry £500 In the meantime she is left with extreme anxiety in the aftermath, this will stay with her for a long time I have no doubt. Truly shocking!

Reading the testaments of other women of late, who have been stalked and threatened, something needs to be done, how dare men who behave like this one walk away with hardly any punishment.

Oldwoman70, newspapers, of course, use titillation to increase sales. Even their seemingly 'serious' articles on harassment etc. are included and headlined for that reason.

Terrie Bull, thanks for raising this case. I’ve just read about this in the DM on line. The man was sentenced to £500 fine and 14 night curfew. His defence argued against community service because the offender, police officer, shouldn’t mix with other offenders.

Why wasn’t this man given a community sentence with conditions to address his offence. He acted out an arrest as he terrorised and assaulted the woman. That behaviour didn’t arise ‘just’ because he was drunk. Sex offenders fantasise, the fantasies no longer do enough for them so they take it to the next level. How can any Court see this as an appropriate sentence? Will the CPS appeal?
He remains suspended as the force that employs him couldn’t go through its disciplinary procedure until the criminal proceedings concluded. Surely, he must be sacked.

It is highly unlikely that someone who commits an offence of that type wont offend again.

Exactly Galaxy. It’s unlikely in the extreme that his behaviour towards women doesn’t reflect the contempt in which he holds us

I am always agog when people say oh he must have had a breakdown or he was such a normal family man. No he wasnt. For men who commit this type of crime the likelihood is there will be a number of unreported similar crimes and for the 'out of the blue' murder of a partner (sorry I know I am conflating two different type of crimes here) there will be a history of domestic violence.

There is still a lot of victim blaming going on. There is an article in the local paper about a woman who was attacked whilst out running - a lot of comments are along the lines of she shouldn't have been there, she shouldn't have worn "running gear" and even one comment stating that women "like" a quick grope!! These are the attitudes that need to change

I don't think 50 shades was that popular - when I worked in a charity shop the most donated book was 50 shades. I couldn't get past the first few pages it was so badly written. I think it was over hyped, sold a lot of copies - which were mostly unread. I do wonder if more men than women read it!

Four other points - this story was covered in depth on C4 news and had an interview with the young woman. She described many failures and delays in the police investigation and she and her family had to fight to get them to do anything at all.They have admitted this and apologised.
Secondly exactly what sort of punishment is a curfew during a lockdown?
And a third point, like the police officer who was guarding the site where Sarah was found who sent graphics, this police officer was moved to back office duties whilst under investigation. They should both have been immediately suspended
And a fourth point, he only changed his plea to guilty at the last minute. What was that judge yesterday thinking of?
There’s no hop

Oh and a fifth point( all courtesy of C4) both these police officers are very recent recruits. It was suggested that in the rush to meet Govt targets, selection procedures are being less than robustly carried out

nanna8

I must lead a very sheltered life. No one I know or any of my children or grandchildren have ever been remotely interested in porn. They are too busy living their lives, going out with friends and enjoying themselves. Strewth.

They’re hardly going to tell you, are they? Never assume ?

I have sons, they are now in their mid 30s, my recollection of their school days, mixed state junior and mixed comprehensive, was a time when they had many friends of both sexes, they regarded girls in their peer group as mates and not targeted sex objects, I know that there are quite a few they are still be in touch with. I have a close friend who's daughter same age and good friends with one of my sons, attended a single sex private school. When she got together with boys in her later teens, often they were with boys who had been pupils at fee paying single sex schools. She didn't have a comfortable relationship with the opposite sex that my children had, and often the behaviour she was on the receiving end relayed back to me via her mother, sounded to me like that that of the entitled and boorish.

I also read an alarming article recently relating to Durham University where some texts from prospective undergraduates had been exposed concerning young men all from privileged backgrounds who'd set them self a challenge to target young women from poorer backgrounds to have sex with with so they could brag and boast to each other about that. I believe when this came to light several places were withdrawn.

Reading about the increasing "rape culture" that prevails in schools many of these top notch establishments is extremely alarming, I imagine it is not confined to any one sector. It seems things are very different now to what I remember.

There seems to be such a lack of respect on the part of many young men towards their female counterparts, it's a problem that urgently needs addressing.

Did those policemen that assaulted people keep their jobs? They should be dismissed immediately and never,ever allowed to rejoin.
I don’t need to assume anything, meryl. I know them well and that stuff is just not on their radar. They are no angels, I’m not saying they are, but all very busy with their outdoor lives and friends. I think kids here spend more time outside because of the weather.

There's nothing new about the sexual harrassment of women and children. Mine started when I was 12.

Terri I’m not sure that’s the full story going backwards - I think much was hidden certainly when we were girls snd young women - child abuse, domestic abuse, sexual abuse hidden and/or tolerated , seen as a normal part of culture.

I think one of the problems is that actually we know very little about who is acessing porn. The fact that it is a multi million dollar earner suggests that it is more than just a few men. I remember a few years ago Cosmo and similar women's magazines were advising women to watch porn with their partner if the relationship needed help. It was also common place on TV programmes like Friends. If it is fuelling violence against women it would help to know exactly what the position is and who is likely to offend.