114. Don't send them if they are girls.

114. Don’t send them if they are girls




The sexism of our culture is reflected and magnified in schools through curricula, practices and prejudices of teachers and sexual harassment and violence by fellow students. The system of school and its content, process and context were created by white, middle-class men to suit their purposes and reflect their values. ”This acts to pass off their worldview as immutable, unchangeable, objective and true” (Thompson p30) (I have this as the opening quote to this chapter, but think it should be the opening quote for this bit) . It also acts to make women invisible and devalue their contributions, struggles and lives. “As long as men have written the history books and controlled the general currency of thought, then the philosophy and agitation, the poetry and literature, the art and politics of women have been obliterated from the records.” (Thomson p20) Men’s monopoly of what counts as worthwhile knowledge is one of the foundations of patriarchy.

The science taught at school reflects the masculine idea of domination, control and subjugation of nature. In the same way that the separation of science from religion put the physical above the metaphysically and forever separate from it, the feminine is associated with nature that the male and masculine science must subjugate to control. This undermines women and girls.

IQ tests originally showed girls outperformed boys of the same age by between two and 4%, so originators changed the tests by removing the questions that girls did especially well on. (M French p412). However, girls continue to do better than boys in school, partly because they are socialised to be more receptive.

There have been valiant attempts by enlightened individuals to remove ‘gender bias’ from the curriculum and from curricular material and some interesting things have happened. Firstly, there are claims that it has ‘gone too far’ and now favours girls, so boys, especially poor working-class boys, are being badly done to so now this needs addressing. Secondly, although girls achieve better at GCSE and A-level than boys that does not mean that the material is free from sexual stereotypes or gender bias. It is still lacking in positive images of women, or women doing non-stereotypical acts and often ignores the contribution of women.

There are arguments that coursework favours girls and exams favour boys, that certain kinds of questions appeal more to one gender or another. These are generalisations that ignore the fact that all children are different, and ‘one size fits all’ actually doesn’t. The fact that these generalisations exist at all confirms that sexual stereotyping is alive and well in education. Assumptions that girls won’t be interested in cars and football, and boys will, and that boys won’t be interested in clothes and cooking, but girls will, can become self-fulfilling.

Sexist teachers still exist. When I trained to teach, I was deeply shocked by the attitudes of some of my fellow students. Attitudes such as ‘women get what they deserve, if they are raped’ (This was a young educated woman speaking) and women should not go out alone. (This was a male teacher speaking). Certain jobs and careers are seen as appropriate for girls but they were seen as ‘too soft’ for traditionally male jobs, subjects and activities. Research showed that the same piece of science writing was given lower marks when it was attributed to girls than when teachers were told boys were the authors. (Murphy p39)
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Of course, schools do reflect the sexism in society at large, while helping create the society of the future. Women still overwhelmingly carry the burden of unpaid drudgery in the home, the care of children and still carry responsibility for the sexual behaviour of men, even when they are still children themselves. In a recent court case, a 24-year-old man raped a 10-year-old girl. The judge said she dressed provocatively, so was partly responsible. Judge Julian Hall has shown great leniency to sex offenders, from telling a 71 year old abuser to buy his 6 year-old victim a bike. He gave a window cleaner a 2 year sentence for raping a 10 year old. (Incidentally, his remarks that aim to justify abuse and deny the damage it does seems remarkably like the behaviour of

The mixed messages we give to our young girls are writ large in school: always be sexually attractive, but not ‘provocative’ or you’ll be raped, and it will be your fault; you can do whatever you like in the world as long as you don’t lose your femininity; you can be assertive but if you are too assertive (i.e., stand-up for your rights) men won’t find you attractive; you are equal to men but must defer to them as they have such fragile egos; compete, but if you are too competitive, especially with the boys, you will be seen as a ball-breaking harridan.

Then there are still double standards concerning sexual activity. Sexually active young men are revered and called stag or whatever. Sexually active young women are called slag, whore or whatever. These act out in emotionally charged adolescents trying to make sense of themselves, their world and their sexuality.
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Sexual harassment

Sexual harassment can be defined as unwanted conduct of a sexual nature or other conduct based on sex affecting the dignity of women or men. (Sutherland and Ramphele Quoted in Odaga and Heneveld 1995) It includes name-calling, taunts, insults, touching, patting, pinching, brushing against, groping, sexual advances, propositions, pressure for sexual activity, suggestive remarks, innuendos, lewd comments, displays of pornography, leering, whistling, and sexually suggestive gestures. In its extreme form, it leads to rape. Even without forced penetration, the fear of rape and the harassment itself is a rape of girl’s minds. It creates a hostile, highly charged, uncomfortable ‘learning environment’ in schools, especially for girls.

“Things are happening in school that would never be allowed to happen in the workplace” said Maria Banos of Womankind Worldwide. Kids don’t have any choice over whether to be there. (Guardian “I was called names like slut and whore” 30/11/07)

A survey by the National union of teachers indicated that half of teachers had witnessed sexist language and bullying and that where it occurs it occurs frequently. As Nan Stein points out, you don’t grow out of sexual bullying, you grow into it. And when it is allowed to go on in public it gives permission for it. (Guardian article) However, by calling it sexual bullying, rather than sexual harassment, for which employees have protection in law, we deny its true nature.

Research in five Jr high schools in America found that 25% of female students had experienced sexual harassment at the hands of male students, and that girls were blamed for their own harassment or believe they are at fault. (Macdonald 1996 cited in Harber c p55)

In an article in Guardian Women (30/11/07 p16-17 “I was called names like slut and whore” Emine Saner), a 16-year-old was called a slapper, because she had a large bust. She eventually had breast reduction so it would stop. The article claims that sexual bullying is rife. “Schools may serve as the training grounds for domestic violence and sexual assault through the public performance of sexual harassment” said Nan Stein (a US research)

There is often no redress and a denial that it causes harm, or is enjoyed. This creates a culture of gender violence that blames the victim and leaves perpetrators unpunished. “Boys will be boys” they say. Testimonies of victims however, expressed the degree of humiliation and undermining that occurs in this setting.

Try travelling upstairs on a Manchester bus at school-out time, and observe the behaviour. The aggression, violence and sexual language in children who would not be allowed into a film that contained it, is shocking. Sexual innuendo, sexual insults, physical touching. In many ways girls now give as good as they get, returning the insults in a highly charged sexually offensive banter.
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Sexual abuse by teachers

According to the BBC website, in the year to April 2007 at least 15 teachers had been jailed for sexual abuse of pupils and 10 for child pornography offences. (Choice in education 108 April 2007 p5) This is those who were caught, convicted and jailed. Bearing in mind that many victims do not disclose through fear and shame until many years after the event and the difficulty in getting convictions generally for sexual abuse of children, these statistics cannot show us the full extent of the abuse that happens. Many offences, unreported, unsubstantiated or lacking a conviction will have occurred. Many high profile cases of adults disclosing abuse they suffered as children involved predatory paedophiles, who sought contact with children through jobs in schools and children’s homes, into positions of power over children. Again, we put our children into the care of strangers and hope for the best.
The combined factors of a gendered curriculum, sexist environment and personnel, sexual harassment and violence and abuse act together to diminish confidence, expectations, self-esteem and cause fear, anxiety and distress. It’s a miracle girls manage to achieve at all, especially through the difficult physical and emotional minefield of adolescence.

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