During a meeting set up by Barnardo’s, children and young people told MPs that online abuse is having a profound impact on their daily lives.
Around 30 young people met politicians at Westminster on Tuesday 30 June, asking them to tackle widespread misogyny online.
One participant asked MPs to consider their own families, including their mothers, daughters and sisters, when reflecting on the issue.
The meeting was organised by the charity Barnardo’s as part of its Call It What It Is campaign, which says online abuse and harassment is ‘constant, corrosive and deeply embedded’ for young people in the UK.
In line with the meeting, Barnardo’s polled 4,000 young people about their experiences with online misogyny. Some of the findings include:
- 25% of girls said they had been called degrading names online
- 59% of boys said they felt expected to ‘act tough and show no emotion’
- 15% of 13- to 15-year0olds said they had been asked to share a nude photo of themselves
- 21% of boys said their friends would not support them if they called out sexist comments
- 18% of girls said they had received repeated messages after asking someone to stop or ignoring them
During the event, MPs also saw artwork created by young people illustrating misogynistic content they encounter on social media.
One of the people involved, Ayo, aged 24, from Northern Ireland, told MPs that her experience with misogyny motivated her to join the Barnardo’s campaign. She said: ‘A lot of people hear the word misogyny and think of extreme examples, but often it’s much more subtle than that.
‘It’s the comments that get brushed off as jokes, the assumptions people make about what women can or can’t do, or the content that appears on someone’s feed so often that they stop questioning it. That’s why conversations like these matter.’
- News of the meeting comes as the government have announced a social media ban for children under the age of 16
In similar vein, Krish – 20-years-old, from North West England – urged MPs to consider the human impact behind the statistics.
‘The people in this room include some of Britain’s most successful men and women,’ Kris said. ‘From the Minister to the Chief Executive of Barnardo’s, to MPs and young people.
‘But do you know what we all in this room also are? We’re people. We have families, mothers, daughters, sisters.
‘So, when you hear our campaign and what we are calling for, think about them. Understand that this not just numbers and a policy call, it’s real people who are being harmed, when it can be stopped.’
Speaking to MPs, Lynn Perry, Barnardo’s chief executive said: ‘Our Call It What It Is campaign grew directly from what we’d seen on the ground, particularly the impact of online misogyny, and from the insights shared by our young people here today.
‘Misogyny isn’t always loud or visible, but our findings show how constant, corrosive and deeply embedded it is in the lives of young people today, be that online or in real life.’
Image: Sasun Bughdaryan/UnSplash
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