Rape culture widespread in UK primary schools with survivors as young as 5: Report

An investigation by a UK-based campaign group has found that rape culture is widespread in the country’s primary schools, with students from at least 1,600 institutions submitting anonymous testimonies recalling their horror.

The report prepared by Everyone’s Invited features names of 1,664 schools in the UK and Ireland where students aged five to 11 have faced sexual harassment, including groping, inappropriate touching and forced penetration.

Survivors as young as five

Shockingly, one of the testimonies revealed the victim was a five-year-old when the harassment took place.

In one of the testimonies, a 12-year-old pupil wrote on Everyone’s Invited website: “I was 10 years old and walking to school when a car pulled up and three teenage boys asked me to come inside. I wasn’t stupid. I said no, but one of them came out and grabbed my wrist. I would love to say I was brave and started screaming or fighting back but I was too scared.”

“At this point, I was crying and trying do something. I was raped in that car by two of them, the third one watched and recorded. At school I was quiet the whole day my friends assumed it was nothing and it was over just like normal. I’m 12 years old now … and I am [a] survivor.”

According to a spokesperson for the website, most people share their own personal experiences on the portal. However, Sophie Lennox added that they had “evidence of children as young as five submitting their stories to our website with adult assistance, be that child therapists or parents.”

Appropriate sex education required for kids below nine

The campaign group is now calling on authorities in the UK to bring age-appropriate sex education to primary schooling, to pupils aged below nine.

Daniel Kebede, the general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), was quoted as saying by the Guardian that primary teachers in the UK are increasingly reporting sexist behaviour in their schools.

“It affects the way that children play together and how girls feel about themselves and the place they have in the world,” said Kebede.

“Children with siblings in secondary school are also passing on negative attitudes towards women teachers. Sexist and misogynistic behaviour diminishes both boys and girls. Age-appropriate health and sex education is key to supporting young people as they navigate how to foster healthy and appropriate relationships.”