Women's Views on News |
| Stopping sexual assault on trains Posted: 03 Sep 2014 06:18 AM PDT
Alongside reports and news coverage of the sexual assault of a women on a train in South East London, public transport figures show that reported sexual offences on Britain's railways have increased by 21 per cent. British Transport Police (BTP) have confirmed that in the past year there have been 1,117 reported sexual offences – compared with 925 the previous year. This is against a backdrop of falling figures for other types of crime. What is not clear is whether this rise represents a rise in incidents or a rise in public confidence in reporting. Quoted in the Guardian, BTP said; "part of this increase can be attributed to the high profile prosecutions of celebrities for historical offenses which have, undoubtedly, given victims more confidence to come forward." Safety on public transport has long been a concern for policy makers and the British Transport Police. When research showed that over 15 per cent of women who travel on the London Underground had experienced some form of unwanted sexual contact and 90 per cent of them did not report it to the police decided it was time for action. Informed by the groundbreaking work of feminist activists including the Everyday Sexism Project and Hollaback!London, BTP took a more public stand against sexual assaults on public transport by launching Project Guardian. Project Guardian has provided training for nearly 2,000 members of BTP staff, the aim of which is to ensure that a respectful and believing approach will be provided to those who report their abuse. The project has also seen two dedicated weeks of action and a Freephone number and a text number for easy reporting of any assault. Despite the impressive work carried out by those involved the most recently publicised case highlights the need for a next step for Project Guardian. A step which would see a widespread attitudinal campaign which gives information to the general public rather than solely to the victims. The case in question: A man got on a train after a woman, sat next to her and began to touch her “inappropriately” in an ordeal which lasted for around 20 minutes, before he left the train at Chislehurst station at about 1.15am, police said. There were several people in the train carriage at the time of the attack, and yet no one intervened because, the police said, ‘they thought that the man and the woman involved were a couple’. The time seems to be right to move Project Guardian from a victim-focused reporting project to a social bystander programme, like those seen on US campuses, which will mean that everyone who travels on public transport knows how to safely and appropriately challenge sexual assault. Really making public transport truly safer for all.  |
| Posted: 03 Sep 2014 04:11 AM PDT
The project is a dynamic digital platform where young people aged between 16 and 25 can talk about the issues that affect them. Anything, from personal reflections on their lives to their frustrations around the stereotypes the media turns them into, to their optimism about the future. According to a Sky News poll, almost half of the young people in Britain are not engaged in politics, feel their voices are not heard and don’t believe that politicians are addressing their needs. That makes for depressing reading. The media are partly to blame, often portraying young people as stereotypes, the victims or the agitators. Indeed only 18 per cent of young people say that traditional media is the best platform to reflect their views and concerns. I am determined to change this, John Ryley, head of Sky News explained. This is why we are launching Stand Up Be Counted. Not only is it a place where young people can share their thoughts but it also means that we can help amplify their voices and make them a genuine part of our Sky News content. We would like thousands of young people across the country, from every constituency, to share their thoughts with us, as they already do on their social networks, Ryley continued. Within just a few seconds video, blogs and comments can be uploaded and shared with fellow Stand Ups on our platform and across social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook, Google+, WhatsApp and Kik. I am 52, it’s been a while since I was considered young, Ryley said, but when I talk to younger people now I am always bowled over about how creative, how deep thinking, and how motivated they are. They just feel, quite rightly, disengaged from the Westminster bubble which decide the direction in what our country heads. Likewise news organisations like Sky need to up their game, and help explain how policy decisions directly affect the lives of young people, and how they can influence those decisions via voting. We just need to avoid doing it in a preachy, patronising way. There is a danger that young people could be side-lined, becoming so disengaged that they lose their voice – not necessarily amongst their peers – but with the establishment who contribute to shaping their future. Long gone are the days of young people being seen and not heard, we need to do all we can to ensure their voices are received loud and clear, ensure they stand up and are counted. Visit the Stand Up website.  |
| Failings ‘not unique to Rotherham’ Posted: 03 Sep 2014 01:09 AM PDT
The report detailing the 16 years of child sexual exploitation that took place in Rotherham involving more than 1,400 children is very disturbing. The ordeal of the young white girls closely mirrors the experiences of Asian girls who are sexually abused by groups of Asian men. Although the majority of the victims are white females, there are no doubt a number of male victims and Asian female victims who have not come to light in the media. Asian offenders in Rotherham also targeted girls from similar backgrounds to their own, however, the smaller number of Asian victims in Rotherham is also reflective of them disclosing and reporting their abuse at a lower rate because of cultural notions of shame and dishonour. Muslim Women's Network UK (MWNUK) highlighted 35 case studies of Asian female victims from across England last year in the report, Unheard Voices: Sexual Exploitation of Asian Girls and Young Women. Although this report has been referenced in the Rotherham report (on page 94), we are disappointed that some sections of the media continue to portray child sexual exploitation as a race crime. The reality is that sexual predators regardless of ethno-cultural or religious backgrounds, are opportunists, and target the most vulnerable and the most accessible children and young people in society. We found evidence in our research that the perpetrators purposefully exploited vulnerabilities associated with the Asian culture. For example, using recordings of the rapes to blackmail victims was a common feature in our findings. MWNUK will now be holding 6 community events in different towns and cities in the coming months in a concerted effort to raise awareness of issues relating to the sexual exploitation of Asian female victims. Shaista Gohir, chair of MWNUK, said: "There are a minority of people in every community who are willing to commit such abhorrent crimes. "We must therefore be careful not to tarnish entire communities by providing a false perception that grooming is restricted to Asian communities. "Although offenders and victims come from a range of backgrounds, in recent grooming cases, a substantial number have been from a Pakistani background and this cannot be disputed. "This may be largely consistent with the representative population of Pakistanis in the different regions of the UK and should be investigated through academic research. "Judgments should not be solely based on the cases featured in the media. "This has been a common feature amongst other well known sexual exploitation cases that have already gone to court in Rochdale and Oxford. "We found that services and authorities have also neglected Asian victims. "While fears of racism may have played a part, it is clear from the Rotherham report, and findings in other local authorities, that there has been a tendency not to believe the victims and view the incidents as consensual and lifestyle choices. "It is alarming that some police officers do not know or understand that sex with an underage child is against the law even if it appears consensual. "It is worrying that a number of police officers failed to recognise that adults were manipulating children.” MWNUK believes those in senior positions of power, who took decisions to downplay the extent of child abuse and not allocate sufficient resources to investigate the crimes or support the victims, should be held accountable. However, MWNUK believes these failing are not unique to Rotherham. The likelihood is that similar problems exist in other local authorities and police forces. MWNUK now hopes professionals and service providers across the UK review the way they handle child sexual exploitation cases and proactively start finding ways to reach victims, gaining their confidence and providing channels through which they are able to disclose and report.  |
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