Girls are being forced to wear shorts under their school skirts to stop boys taking upskirting photos, a teachers’ leader has claimed. Dr Mary Bousted, president of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), believes sexual harassment is becoming “normalised” in schools, due to the increase in kids who have camera phones.
Bousted said upskirting is happening in some primary schools, but mainly in secondary schools. “I think it is something [boys] have advised each other to do,” she told The Telegraph. “It can happen in an instant: sending [the photo] around, and then giving the name of the girl - that is the worst thing, the absolute humiliation, the embarrassment and shame. Social media just provides a new vehicle, another way that girls can be harassed.”
Bousted believes boys need help to discuss and understand how something that may have been intended to be a joke could be traumatic for girls.
