Meeting of the Parliament 05 December 2024
I am pleased to contribute on behalf of Scottish Liberal Democrats to the annual debate on the 16 days of international activism. I thank the many organisations that provided briefings for the debate for their contributions and for their work to address gender inequality and gender-based violence.
As others have highlighted, the Scottish Youth Parliament called for various actions to be taken to tackle gender-based violence, including early intervention through education and increased support for victims of violence and abuse. Girls are not safe from harassment and abuse in Scotland’s schools. A University of Glasgow study found that two thirds of Scottish secondary school pupils had been sexually harassed and that a third had experienced personally invasive behaviour, such as sexual touching. Primary prevention approaches aim to stop such violence by tackling the root cause, which is gender inequality. Harassment, verbal abuse and toxic banter must be challenged to disrupt a climate that enables more serious abuse and violence.
Gender-based violence affects every community. For her social science baccalaureate, Shetlander Gracie Gowans-Little conducted a survey on perceptions of sexual violence. Ninety per cent of respondents agreed with the statement that sexual violence is an issue in Shetland. At the cross-party group on men’s violence against women and girls, a presentation by Angus Women’s Aid and Limitless focused on the serious issue of domestic abuse and coercive control in youth relationships. The presenter pointed to the fact that the availability of hard-core pornography has created a situation in which high levels of violence are the norm.
A report by the Children’s Commissioner for England found that the average age at which children first see pornography is 13 years old and that they are most likely to see it on social media sites. Research shows that exposure to such content, which often depicts violence towards women, creates attitudes that are permissive of coercion and aggression in sexual interactions. Those concerning findings demonstrate the importance of dedicated education for young people that covers healthy relationships, consent and critical literacy.
Young men and boys also need critical thinking skills to tackle the reach of so-called misogynistic influencers. Boys who are looking for videos on topics such as cars or exercise are at risk of exposure to such content, which draws them in with videos about making money and motivational advice and escalates to misogynistic rants and hateful comments.
Misogynistic attitudes are linked to the perpetration of violence against women and to higher rates of substance abuse and depression among men. Teenagers are drawn to risk and rebellion, which means that it is not enough just to say that influencers are wrong. Emily Setter, a researcher in criminology, argues that we must understand why young men and boys are vulnerable to those messages and must offer them a credible alternative.
I commend the work of Rape Crisis Scotland and the University of Glasgow in developing equally safe at school, which is a toolkit to create a whole-school approach to preventing gender-based violence in secondary schools. I hope that schools across Scotland will be equipped to tackle harmful cultures in schools, to prevent gender-based violence and to support children who are affected by it. Teachers will also need training and support in enacting new policies.
Education can help to normalise men challenging each other’s behaviour. As others have said, Police Scotland’s “Don’t be that guy” campaign encourages men to have frank conversations with each other about behaviour that is damaging to women and to prevent harassment.
In last year’s debate I spoke of the patriarchy and misogyny restricting the freedoms of women and girls in Afghanistan, but that situation is even worse today. In August, the Taliban prohibited women’s voices from being heard in public. The level of human rights violations is so extensive that Amnesty International’s latest report found that it constitutes gender persecution.
I have more to say, but I realise that I am running out of time.