Reforming sex education to tackle rape culture

There has recently been increased attention on issues surrounding sexual harrassment and abuse, particularly following the disappearance and death of Sarah Everard (BBC News, 2021). In response to the disappearance, police reportedly advised who lived near Clapham, where she was last seen, to avoid going out alone. Many people took to social media to talk about their experiences of having to change their behaviour, from the clothes they wear to the routes they walk, to avoid incidents such as Sarah Everard's and are calling for reform to tackle the pervasive culture that normalises and trivialises incidents of sexual violence, known as rape culture. Rape culture is defined as ‘a society or environment whose prevailing social attitudes have the effect of normalising or trivialising sexual assault and abuse’ (Oxford English Dictionary, 2020) and includes behaviours such as victim blaming, trivialisation of rape and assault and a refusal to acknowledge the harm caused by sexual violence (Bold Voices, no date).