Schools aren’t addressing online sexual violence adequately, Western research finds

Schools and teachers play a critical role in equipping students with the skills to understand, respond to, and prevent sexual violence in safe and healthy ways. As the lines between the digital and physical world continue to blur, young people are reporting that these harms are increasingly being perpetrated online through actions like the sending of unwanted sexually explicit messages, cyberflashing, cyberstalking or sharing intimate images without consent. A group of researchers, led by Sociology professor Kaitlynn Mendes, explored how the curriculum in Canada addresses these forms of "technology-facilitated sexual violence" and found there is significant room for improvement to make young people feel empowered to both prevent and adequately respond to these actions. This research is part of a five-year project called Digitally Informed Youth (DIY): Digital Safety which aims to empower young people and provide them with tailored resources so they can have safe and enjoyable interactions online and offline. Kaitlynn Mendes, associate professor, Sociology, Canada Research Chair in Inequality and Gender. (Western Communications) "This is why we are doing this research - to show that these are topics that aren't being talked about or if they are being talked about, they often use victim-blaming language," said Mendes. "There is an urgent need to address this because we know young people are not asking for help when they're in trouble, they are trying to solve these things on their own.