girls world - Optimus Education

Workshop session 2B 14.30-15.20
Tackle self esteem issues in girls to prevent
and combat risky sexualised behaviours and
teenage partner violence and abuse
Dr Tina Rae
Professional and Academic Tutor
Doctorate in Educational and Child Psychology
University of East London
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Need to highlight key concerns
Need to ‘engage’ with girls to identify their
concerns
Need to ‘engage’ with girls and those who
care for them in order to identify
appropriate support strategies and systems
Prevention is better than cure?
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Relational aggression
Bullying/cyber bullying
Early sexualisation (media etc)
Unsafe sexual behaviours
Drug and alcohol use
Runaways
Girl gangs
Levels of self harm
Self image and eating disorders and plastic
surgery
Self esteem, confidence and well being
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Decline in the UK birth-rate
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Greater number of women in the workforce
Adams (1997)
‘…over the past years, we have seen a
supposed era of post feminism’
Note ‘supposed’
Significant area of achievement/
success
OFSTED and Equal Opportunities
Commission (1996) compiled ‘The Gender
Divide’ which presented the following
information:
Girls are more successful than boys at
every level in GCSE – more achieve at
least one Grade G or above.
More achieve at least five Grade G or
above.
More achieve at least one Grade C or
above.
More achieve at least five Grade C or
above and more achieve Grade A*.
National
Literacy Trust boys’ reading
Commission Overview of the evidence 2012
‘Girls outperform boys on all National
Curriculum reading tests. At age 7, the gap
between boys and girls reaching the
expected level in reading is 7 percentage
points. At age 11 the gap widens slightly to 8
percentage points (for reading), increasing
further to 12 percentage points at age 14
(for English). At GCSE level, the gap between
boys and girls achieving A* to C in English
GCSE is 14 percentage points’.
So,
why is it
going wrong?
The Role of the Media?
McRobbie (2000) illustrated how girls’ youth
culture is intrinsically linked to such
magazines. She stated that ‘the messages
which these images and stories together
produce are limited and ambiguous…’
These are:
1
2
3
4
The girl has to fight to get and
keep her man.
She can never trust another
woman.
Romance and being a girl are fun.
She must always look good!
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Ample evidence for the sexualisation of
women – TV, music lyrics, sports media,
video games, the internet and advertising
O’Donohue, Gold & Mckay (1997) coded ads
over 40 yr period in 5 magazines – 85% of
ads sexualised girls rather than boys
Girls sexualise themselves when they think of
themselves in objectified terms i.e. Learn to
treat their bodies as objects of others desires
(Frederickson & Roberts 1997)
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Parents/carers may present girls and young
women with the message that being
physically attractive is one of the most
important goals for them to achieve and
some will provide access to plastic surgery in
the attempt to reach the ideal (Brown &
Gilligan, 1992).
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Research also shows that teachers can
encourage girls to play at being sexualised
adult women (Martin, 1998) or maintain the
belief that girls from specific ethnic
backgrounds are hypersexual and therefore
unlikely to achieve any real academic success
in school (Rolon-Dow, 2004).
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It is also evident that male and female peers
contribute to this process. Peer pressure from
both genders has been found to contribute to
girls conforming to standards of thinness or
sexiness (Eder, 1995; Nichter, 2000). A key
concern is also the particular ways in which
the process encourages boys to sexually
objectify and harass girls.
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This kind of behaviour is also ‘normalised’ by
the girls themselves via the process of selfobjectification – the process whereby girls
and young women learn to think of and treat
them themselves as objects of other people’s
(mainly boy’s and men’s) desires (Fredericks
& Roberts, 1997; Mckinley & Hyde, 1996).
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The unrealistic expectations on girls and
young women to achieve the ‘ideal’ in terms
of appearance has led to an increase in eating
disorders and the number of young women
having breast implants at an increasingly
early age (Zuckerman & Abraham, 2008).
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Exposure to gender-stereotypical ideas and
images also contributes to sexist attitudes
and beliefs and sexual harassment and
violence against women (Kilboune & Lazarus,
1987). Sexual objectification can also be seen
to enable and encourage a range of
oppressions including employment
discrimination and sexual violence alongside
the trivialisation of women’s roles and
accomplishments in the workplace
(Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997).
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The mainstreaming of the sex industry has
also led to an increase in the number of girls
and young women entering careers such as
lap dancing or glamour modelling which
require a ‘sexy’ image (Deeley, 2008) whilst
the viewing of sexually objectifying images of
young women has also led to more
acceptance of violence within relationships
(Kalof, 1999; Lanis & Covell, 1995).
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The increasing availability of pornography via
advances in technology has also be seen as a
contributory factor to the increase in
acceptance of sexual aggression within
relationships (Malamuth, Addison & Koss,
2000).
AND HOW DOES THIS AFFECT THE BOYS?
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Effect on adolescents strong as they are still
forming sense of self
Research links sexualisation with 3 of the
most common mental health problems in
women ; eating disorders, low self esteem
and depression (Durkin & Paxton 2002)
Sexual problems – diminished sexual health
Place attractiveness at centre or most value
Increase in sexism and rates of sexual
violence
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Participation in gangs
Involvement in bullying
Looking like Lady Gaga or Posh Spice or the girl
next door?
Giving boys what they want or taking what you
want?
Accepting violence as a normal part of a
relationship
Using drugs and alcohol for fun
Getting rid of the pain via DSH
Having that baby to love
Taking risks and going your own way?
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NSPCC Partner exploitation and violence in
teenage intimate relationships
Nearly 75% have reported some form of
emotional partner violence
Long term effects on mental and physical
health
Sexual abuse can lead to early or unwanted
pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases
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‘We heard yesterday that one woman in four,
in England and Wales suffers domestic
violence during her life, two women a week
murdered by partners. A hundred thousand
females living in Britain have had their
genitals mutilated so they can never feel
sexual pleasure, and not one prosecution in
the years since this became illegal. There are
thousands of incidences of so called honour
based violence in a year, a many more forced
marriages’.
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‘When our daughter took part in a BBC
programme in the East End of London, she
found that all the girls there her age had
suffered brutality from their boyfriends. They
thought nothing of it-you have sex, you get
beaten, at least your man protects you from
others.’
 How
can we tackle these
issues of self esteem to
combat risky behaviours
and levels of teenage
partner violence and abuse?
 Education for girls AND
boys?
Preventative education programmes
should begin in Primary schools – for
boys and girls
 Peer mentoring schemes (Scotland)
 Prison visits
 Holistic
 Build on existing good practice
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The development and implementation of schoolbased media literacy programmes could be key
Teach critical skills in viewing and consuming
media
Girls and boys groups can also work towards
change
Alternative media such as web based magazines
and blogs, feminist magazines, books and websites
can encourage girls to become activists and
develop own alternatives
The Aims of my current
interventions with girls
To highlight these issues with the groups of
girls targeted and to emphasise the
importance of developing intimate
relationships which are based upon mutual
trust and support rather than peer pressure,
aggression and bullying.
NB ‘highlight’ as opposed to dictate!
Objectives
Encourage
students to become more aware
of the importance of supporting each other
and the benefits of forming strong, positive
bonds with other females.
Develop
students’ understanding of
emotional literacy and the importance of
being aware of their feelings and being able
to manage them effectively.
Ensure
that students understand the
importance of self-motivation and positive
thinking – teach them strategies and
techniques from MI, CBT, SFBT, NLP etc
Raise students’ self-esteem – in a realistic
way!
Develop students’ self-assurance and
confidence and ability to make their own
decisions in life.
Encourage students to become more aware of
the impact that the media has on society’s
perception of females and on their own
perception of themselves.
Create
an awareness of the need to keep safe
and definitions of safety – without dictating by
our rules!
Enable students to further develop and
appreciate the perspective of others – that is
empathy.
Encourage the facilitators and support staff to
adopt a consistent approach in terms of
developing students’ emotional literacy, social
skills and self-esteem which includes using
peers as role models and examples e.g. ex
gang members, teenage Mums, survivors of
abuse.
Further
encourage facilitators to review the
current policy and practice in terms of
managing the emotional, social and
behaviour needs of students in their care.
Further develop healthy initiatives and
programmes which promote inclusive
practice for those students who present as
being most at risk..... Identify those at risk
EARLY on and check for signals and signs.
Prevention
is better than cure?
The Structure of my intervention:
Session 1 - Introduction
Session 2 - Emotional Literacy
Session 3 - Self-esteem and Positive
Thinking
Session 4 - Peer Pressure
Session 5 - Self harm and self abuse
Session 6 - Friendships and Relationships
and Relational aggression
Session 7 - Sex and keeping safe
Session 8 - Role Models
Session 9 - Being a Parent
Session 10 - Drugs and Alcohol
Session 11 – Girl gangs
Session 12 - Bullying and abusive
relationships
Final Session - Evaluation and Looking
Forwards
The Sessions
Introductions and Ice Breaker
Talk Time
Activity Sheets
Plenary
Icebreaker –Let’s talk about these
images
 Activity sheets -Facts and figures to
discuss
 I’m a star!
 Key questions
 Faulty thinking quiz
 Personal Resiliency Builders
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What
do YOU
think about these
images?
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Spend time with people who like you and
care about you
Ignore (and stay away from) people who put
you down or treat you badly
Do things that you enjoy or that make you
feel good
Do things you are good at
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Reward yourself for your successes
Develop your talents
Be your own best friend – treat yourself well
and do things that are good for you
Make choices for yourself, and don’t let
others make choices for you
Take responsibility for yourself, your
choices and your actions
10) Always
do what you believe is right
11) Be true to yourself and your values
12) Respect other people and treat them
right
13) Set goals and work to achieve them
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Listening to the girls
A new approach
Peer support
Therapeutic support
A curriculum to teach key skills including
resilience, ‘happy habits’ and assertiveness etc
A curriculum to address and tackle sexualisation in
the media and in the education system itself!
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A survey of girls and young women in 2010
asked:
“What’s the worst thing about being a girl?
47% say pressure to look good”
“Over 1 in 10 girls aged 11-16 and 48 per
cent of young women aged 16-21 would
consider cosmetic surgery”
(Published by Girlguiding UK. © The Guide
Association 2010)
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Girl’s well-being is just too important for us
not to act now
We need to ensure appropriate interventions
at school based and home/social context
levels
We need to tackle media influence and ensure
that the girls themselves have a voice.....THEY
can surely tell us what the real issues are and
we can support them to lead fulfilling lives
which are free from violence and abuse....is
that not our job?