Harassment, violence, bullying, discrimination and gender stereotypes. An observatory investigates the world of teenage girls, its dangers and how these are perceived, thanks to the Indifesa campaign by Terre des Hommes.
For the past few days, Lucia has not wanted to leave the house. She has managed to make excuses to her mother: she is not feeling well, it is a vague malaise that she cannot even describe herself, she cannot sleep at night. She is very on edge and her mother thinks it is best to leave her alone — a few days off school is not the end of the world. But Lucia is in deep anguish: three days ago she found out that a video she had made for her boyfriend — just for him — had ended up in a WhatsApp group chat, the one belonging to his class.
How it got there is unclear — or rather, Gianni, her boyfriend, had not been willing to explain it properly. He mumbled something about a classmate having grabbed his phone as a joke and stumbled upon the video where she was showing him her new bra. Lucia could not tell whether, alongside that one, other videos Gianni had asked her to make while they were apart on holiday were also doing the rounds. There was nothing wrong with it, she had told herself when she made them. She knew that some of her friends even enjoyed making them, and besides, they were intimate things that were meant to stay between her and Gianni. But now the eyes of his classmates all seemed to be on her, judging her as easy, as a girl with loose morals.
Lucia is one of the many girls who are victims of sexting — the sharing of sexually explicit images and videos on social media or messaging services — a phenomenon that is far more widespread than people think. According to the latest data gathered by the Observatory on violence and gender stereotypes run by Terre des Hommes and produced for the Indifesa campaign in collaboration with the ScuolaZoo community, one in five girls (19 per cent) admits to having practised it, while four in ten say they have seen intimate photos or videos of themselves or friends circulating online — evidently the result of an underestimation of the real effects of such behaviour in the vast virtual square of the web, where 60 per cent of teenage girls say they spend most of their free time, and a similar percentage identify as the place where they feel least safe, even compared to physical locations such as streets, railway stations and gyms.
Launched four years ago, the observatory gathered the views of more than 1,250 girls in the first two months of 2018 on highly topical subjects such as online safety, bullying and cyberbullying, harassment and violence, discrimination and gender stereotypes, and sexting itself, in order to gain a closer understanding of the world of teenagers, their perspective on these issues and to gauge their ability to assess and respond to potential online dangers.
Since the questionnaire could be completed anonymously online, the responses are likely to be more candid than those obtained in person in the presence of parents, as is the case with other surveys involving minors. For example, on the sensitive issue of bullying, one in three of the girls surveyed reports having personally experienced acts of bullying, and almost two in three say they have witnessed acts of bullying or cyberbullying. Only 6.2 per cent, however, admit to having carried out such acts against their peers.
A series of questions also explored the girls' views on sexual harassment. 69 per cent of the girls had no doubts: by "sexual harassment" they mean any "intrusive" and unwanted physical contact; 66.5 per cent identify it as any inappropriate behaviour of a sexual nature. Almost one in two considers it to be unwanted physical contact in intimate areas; for 40.1 per cent, sexist and/or sexually charged comments and insinuations can also constitute harassment; while 39.2 per cent indicated persecutory behaviour (stalking). Tolerance is very low: for eight in ten girls, vulgar comments about their body posted online are a source of extreme discomfort.
This survey makes clear the need among younger generations to feel constantly connected. But knowing everything about everyone, and seeing and commenting on other people's actions in virtually real time, does not help them feel less alone — quite the opposite. One of the most striking findings is that 85.8 per cent of those surveyed answered yes to the question "Have you ever felt lonely?" A similar percentage (85.3 per cent), as if sending out a cry for help, says that their school needs a psychologist.
We must fight violence and gender discrimination with every means at our disposal, but we must also give younger generations the tools to counter this underlying tendency to look to social media for an answer to their loneliness, with the risk of generating new anxiety and a further sense of isolation. A new Terre des Hommes project in Italian secondary schools aims at preventing violence and gender stereotypes that perpetuate a subordinate view of women — through educational activities in which young people themselves are the protagonists, as well as web radio and radio formats.