User:ThinkingTwice/project page/Sexual bullying

Sexual bullying is a type of bullying and harassment that occurs in connection with sex. It can be physical, verbal, or emotional.

Definition
The NSPCC has definided Sexual bullying as "any bullying behaviour, whether physical or non-physical, that is based on a person’s sexuality or gender. It is when sexuality or gender is used as a weapon by boys or girls towards other boys or girls - although it is more commonly directed at girls. It can be carried out to a person’s face, behind their back or through the use of technology." Beatbullying has a similar definition. It can be the use of sexual words to put someone down, like calling someone a slut, a slag, or gay, or spreading rumours about someone's alleged sex life. In its most extreme form, it can be inappropriate touching, sexual assault or even rape.

Prevalence
As part of its research into sexual bullying in schools, the BBC Panorama programme commissioned a questionnaire aimed at young people aged 11-19 years in schools and youth clubs across five regions of England. The survey revealed that of the 273 young people who responded to the questionnaire, 28 had been forced to do something sexual and 31 had seen it happen to someone else. Of the 273 respondents, 40 had experienced unwanted touching. UK Government figures show that in school year 2007/8 there were 3,450 fixed period exclusions and 120 permanent exclusions from schools in England due to sexual misconduct. That equates to 19 exclusions per school day for incidents including groping and using sexually insulting language. From April 2008 to March 2009, ChildLine counselled a total of 156,729 children. Of these, 26,134 children spoke about bullying as a main concern and 300 of these talked specifically about sexual bullying. 25% of children who have attended Kidscape free ZAP anti-bullying sessions have reported some form of sexual bullying.

Who does what to who
A survey by the UK National Union of Teachers suggests that sexual bullying is most often carried out by boys against girls, although girls are increasingly harassing girls and boys in a sexual manner. Research shows that sexual bullying starts at primary school level and usually takes the form of verbal insults by boys directed at girls and women through demeaning sexually abusive and aggressive language. A NUT study shows that these verbal insults are generally centred around girls’ sexual status including terms such as ‘bitch’, ‘slag’, ‘tart’ and ‘slut’. Other researchers cite similar evidence. Alarmingly, these incidents are typically dismissed as playful behaviour or justified through humour. The research also shows that boys are also subjected to a range of sexual bullying by other boys and by girls although this is said to be less obvious. The most prevalent issue is sexual verbal abuse and being called obscene names. The names that cause most offence to boys are homophobic terms and those that are associated with the ‘absence’ of high status masculinity.

Same people including the UK charity Beatbullying have climbed that children are being bullied into providing ‘sexual favours’ in exchange for protection as gang culture enters inner city schools, however other anti-bullying groups and teachers' unions including the National Union of Teachers challenged the charity to provide evidence of this as they had no evidence that this sort of behaviour was happening in schools.

In the United States
In the United States sexual bullying is