Source: IOE

Despite widespread notions that girls and women are increasingly successful and most gender equality issues have been addressed in UK society, "girls face increasing pressures around 'sexualisation' and sexism in their peer groups, at school and in wider society," says Dr Jessica Ringrose, senior lecturer in the sociology of gender and education at the Institute of Education (IOE), London.

"Feminism is often said to have gone too far – people say girls have become too confident and successful on the one hand and on the other girls are criticised for becoming overly-sexualised, aggressive and engaging in behaviours such as binge drinking." In her new book launched today, she argues that, rather than demonising girls, educators should concentrate on equipping girls and boys with the tools to form healthy gender relationships to develop a sense of emotional well-being.
"You can't do well in school if you don't have a positive sense of self, and feel safe and free from issues of gendered violence and sexual bullying. Gender equality issues need to be central on the educational agenda, and throughout the curriculum", says Dr Ringrose.
"Blaming high achievement in girls for failings in boys or vice versa gets us nowhere," argues Dr Ringrose. "This abstract argument often obscures the fact that girls still experience sexism in the classroom, playground and beyond, and that boys face their own, different gendered pressures. We also need to be looking at the wider issues of social inequality and how sexism, racism and classism inter-relate and play out in complex ways in school contexts and beyond effecting young people's well-being."
The book, Postfeminist Education? explores the way girls' and women's bodies are objectified in the media, and how this affects teen peer cultures. Dr Ringrose has done extensive research on the ways girls use social media and argues that they portray themselves in complex ways that "speak back" to sexism and sexual violence at school and on social networking sites.
Her data explore how girls resist sexual bullying and the wide-spread "slut shaming" (shaming girls for sexual desires and activity that would likely be applauded in boys) that goes on in teen peer groups. Sex education needs to deal with issues such as sexual bullying, "slut shaming" and pornography, not just the biological, mechanical "parts and plumbing." We need to be "opening up spaces to discuss girls' own desires, in order to foster girls' bodily and sexual autonomy", she says.