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1 in 3 UK girls with school uniform sexually harassed: Study

File photo shows schoolgirls in Britain.

A new study shows girls who wear a school uniform are sexually harassed in the United Kingdom at an alarming rate. 

The results of the survey by Plan International UK, a children's charity, published on Monday, showed that one third of UK schoolgirls with uniform had received unwanted attention in public including groping, staring, catcalling and wolf-whistling.

The study, covering 1,004 girls and women from the ages of 14 to 21 across the UK, found that schoolgirls as young as eight became target of sexual harassment by older men only because of their uniform. The girls said their dress made them feel “sexualized and fetishized” by men, with several young women telling the survey how men would try to take pictures up their skirt, or grope them on public transport.

“I was in my school uniform, my primary school uniform actually, and this guy honked at me, and I wouldn't turn around, and he kept honking, so he egged me [on],” said a 20-year-old girl from Manchester.

A 14-year-old from Belfast said her mother had banned her from going out in uniform because it made her look older.

Eighth percent of girls responding to the research said a stranger took a picture of them without their permission while they were in their school uniform and one in seven said they had been followed while in the gear. Some two-thirds of the girls said they had experienced sexual attention or physical contact in a public space because of wearing the dress.

Sexual harassment, especially of girls, has been rife in schools across Britain. Reports last year showed that girls have been increasingly harassed while at schools with many teachers ill-equipped to tackle the problem.


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