Raising the Volume: Why we need to listen to young people in understanding and preventing sexual violence

Janelle Rabe

January 2025

Sexual violence against children, a pressing public health and societal issue, affects approximately 1 in 8 children globally (UNICEF, 2020). Despite its widespread scale, there is a growing consensus that it is preventable and that everyone must play a critical role in its prevention (Ligiero et al., 2019).

I will draw from emerging findings from my ongoing doctoral research project in this blog post. It is a participatory research project with two groups of young people (13-18 years old) from a youth club and further education institution in Northeast England. We engaged in a series of collaborative workshops towards co-producing knowledge  on sexual violence and its prevention.

Giving the mic: Valuing young people’s language and perspectives in understanding sexual violence

I argue that a critical component of sexual violence prevention is the meaningful engagement of young people (Rabe, 2024). My study highlights the significance of understanding young people's perspectives as a vital factor in making sexual violence prevention strategies more responsive to their experiences.

Young people's voices and experiences have limited representation in policy development and criminal law since they are usually excluded from decision-making on matters involving them (Warrington, 2021). We should understand sexual violence against children beyond dominant systems that structure responses to their experiences, such as elevating the voices of young people using their language (Hlavka, 2019).

Emerging findings from my doctoral research reveal the significance of validating young people's language in defining and describing their experiences of sexual violence. Some of them did not use legalistic language to describe behaviours such as rape, assault, or harassment. Instead, they used everyday language to describe some of their experiences, such as 'weird', 'uncomfortable' and 'inappropriate'. These findings show the significance of engaging young people using the language of discomfort and not just the language of trauma and sexual offences.

Vera-Gray and Fileborn (2018) contend that a language of trauma 'has become necessary not only to render one's experience of sexual violence speakable but to render its harms legitimate' (p. 80).  Using the language of discomfort does not negate the value of using legal terms to identify their experience and seek the appropriate response. Young people’s diverse language and definitions complement and expand existing legal definitions towards developing a young people-informed conceptualisation of sexual violence.

Feminist scholars like Kelly (1988) have drawn attention to the impact of everyday forms of sexual violence on women and children. Her seminal work on the continuum of sexual violence, which includes a range of acts from verbal harassment to physical assault, validated the effect of experiences beyond 'extreme' and 'aberrant' acts of violence.  The continuum does not present a hierarchical order of seriousness but rather challenges the predominant focus on violent, abusive behaviours that emphasise quieter and 'less severe' forms of intrusion (Vera-Gray, 2016).  Ignoring or paying less attention to everyday forms of sexual violence reinforces a culture that accepts and emphasises abuse, which then facilitates the occurrence of violent, severe sexual offences (Kelly, 1988). My project findings contribute to this body of literature by presenting young people’s views on everyday forms of sexual violence and the language they use to describe the behaviours and their varied impacts.

Fire alarms for flames, silence for sparks: Ensuring schools’ action on severe and everyday experiences of sexual violence

A review of sexual violence and harassment among young people in schools in the UK revealed that young people experience different forms of peer sexual abuse (9 in 10 girls and 1 in 2 boys)  (Ofsted,2021). These include everyday experiences such as sexist name-calling (92%), receiving photos they did not want to see (81%) and unwanted comments of a sexual nature (80%). The report highlighted that young people expect these behaviours as part of their daily lives or feel it is not worth reporting (ibid). Similarly, the young people in my project echoed similar narratives of normalisation, ‘something that happens then you get on with your day’. 

Findings from my research revealed that schools may inadvertently enforce a ‘hierarchy of harm’. Some of the young people from my study perceived this through their school’s seeming inaction on everyday experiences of violence. One young person said, ‘The bigger ripple effect it causes if it causes a big stir, they are gonna act on it. If not, they are not going to do anything about it because it might not be substantial enough’ (16-17 y.o, girl). It indicates how school cultures and policies reinforce students’ perceptions of the normalisation of sexual violence. These are magnified with dismissing gendered attitudes of harmful sexual behaviour as ‘boys will be boys’

Challenging these cultures of minimisation and normalisation of sexual violence among young people requires addressing root causes of violence such as harmful gender norms and dismissal of everyday forms of violence. Engaging young people in dialogues and integrating their insights in research, policy, and practice is a vital part of this process.

Works cited

Hlavka, H.R. (2019) ‘Regulating Bodies: Children and Sexual Violence’, Violence Against Women, 25(16), pp. 1956–1979. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801219875817.

Kelly, L. (1988) Surviving Sexual Violence. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Ligiero, D. et al. (2019) What works to prevent sexual violence against children: Evidence Review. Together for Girls. Available at: www.togetherforgirls.org/svsolutions.

Ofsted (2021) ‘Review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges’. UK Government. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-sexual-abuse-in-schools-and-colleges (Accessed: 2 February 2024).

Rabe, J. (2024) ‘Sexual Violence against Children’, in T. Abebe, A. Dar, and K. Wells (eds) Routledge Handbook of Childhood Studies and Global Development. 1st edn. Oxon: Routledge.

Vera-Gray, F. (2016) ‘Men’s stranger intrusions: Rethinking street harassment’, Women’s Studies International Forum, 58, pp. 9–17. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2016.04.001.

Vera-Gray, F. and Fileborn, B. (2018) ‘Recognition and the Harms of “Cheer Up”’, Philosophical journal of con ict and violence, pp. 78–96.

Warrington, C. (2021) Children’s participation in addressing sexual violence: definitions, guilt and creating space for conversations about imperfect practice. Available at: https://www.our-voices.org.uk/news/2021/childrens-participation-in-addressing-sexual-violence-definitions-guilt-and-creating-space-for-conversations-about-imperfect-practice (Accessed: 6 June 2023).

About the author

Janelle Rabe is a doctoral researcher at Durham University-Department of Sociology and a member of the Centre for Research into Violence and Abuse (CRiVA). Her PhD project is funded by the Northern Ireland and North East Doctoral Training Partnership (NINE DTP) and Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). She has a decade of experience working with non-governmental organizations and policymakers in the Philippines on child rights and development issues. She has contributed to policy advocacy campaigns leading to the passage of laws on raising the age of sexual consent, child nutrition, and child protection.

Email: anne.j.rabe@durham.ac.uk

Twitter: janelle_rabe