Young girls at The Cooper School in Bicester have started a petition to ban the depictions of school uniform in porn. Mae, Aylin, Rose and Willow, who are part of the school's Little Feminist Book Club, and are all 15 and 14 years old, are tired of their everyday attire being sexualised.
Rose, 15, told The Times she hates wearing her school uniform on the journey home. 'I can't stand it,' she said. 'Not because it's uncomfortable but because of the possibilities of how it is perceived. Especially a skirt. I definitely don't wear skirts any more.'
Their petition launched a day ago, and has 647 signatures at the time of writing, and it reads: 'We believe that it is crucial that school uniform being depicted in pornography is banned. The possession and publication of this repulsive content clearly aims to simulate a child. We are calling on the Prime Minister to ban this use of the uniform designed to make us feel safe.'
Widespread Depictions and Real-World Harassment
Depictions of school girls in porn are widespread. Bonnie Blue's infamous Channel 4 documentary featured the porn star in a classroom with groups of young looking female models dressed as school children. If you type 'schoolgirl' into X, the top six videos are pornographic, with young women undressing out of their uniforms, or wearing pleated lingerie, with well over 50,000 views combined. There are more than seven major porn communities on Reddit dedicated to schoolgirl porn, with a combined 306,000 weekly visitors.
This sexualising of minors translates into the real world, too. About 58% of 14 to 21 year olds in the UK have been sexually harassed in their learning environment, according to Plan International. They experienced public sexual harassment like being catcalled (26%), receiving unwanted sexual comments (22%) and even being followed (12%) and grabbed (10%).
Expert and Ministerial Support
BACP psychotherapist Amanda Macdonald tells Metro that this is precisely why depictions of school uniforms in porn should be banned. 'When we're thinking about school uniforms, we know in the UK that if someone is in a school uniform they are under the age of consent,' she explains. 'Few schools have uniforms in sixth form and even then, it's questionable sexualising 16 to 18 year olds. We know these are minors under the age of consent so they aren't able to consent to sexual relationships, and therefore people who are over the age of consent, shouldn't have something that's connected with minors in a sexual way.'
While possessing or sharing pornography where an adult pretends to be a child under 16 will soon become an imprisonable offence in the UK, the wearing of a school uniform in porn is somewhat of a grey area. Why? Because Clare McGlynn, a law professor at Durham University and a leading campaigner on reform of porn laws, told The Times that with some sixth forms in the UK having uniforms, this means that porn creators could argue their content in uniforms depicts over-16s.
But, Amanda believes there should be more of a burden on those creating the porn. 'If someone has got the capacity to engage in that type of video then they have a responsibility to think about the content that's being made, where the content is going, and what that content is driving,' she adds.
While banning the depiction of uniforms won't solve the problem entirely, it does send a strong message. 'That type of imagery should be banned, but we know something being banned doesn't prevent it because we know people access all types of illegal material on the internet,' Amanda explains. 'It being legal normalises it and the next time, that content won't seem as surprising or engaging, so then there becomes a need for people to move up a notch, it's a very dangerous area. People will still follow illegal routes, but if it's legal, it says it's okay.'
Amanda also hopes that alongside this there could be adequate and clear support for those who have sexual urges regarding children, so they can access help before acting on it.
Political Response and Next Steps
Minister for victims, tackling violence against women and girls and international justice, Alex Davies-Jones, was impressed with the school pupils and their petition. Alex tells Metro: 'Young women and girls should not have to grow up seeing their school uniforms sexualised, and I commend these pupils for speaking out about something they feel so strongly about. Pornography must never normalise or glorify the sexual abuse of children. That's why we are changing the law so possessing or sharing pornography which depicts an adult pretending to be a child under 16 will be an imprisonable offence. This is part of our wider crackdown on harmful pornography and tackling the attitudes that contribute to violence and abuse against women and girls.'
Amanda was equally inspired by the Oxfordshire pupils. 'It's fantastic to see young people exercising their democratic right to start a petition and it's really inspiring, however this should not be something children needed to do,' she says. 'Kids that are having to advocate for themselves, and frankly the grownups should know better.'
