Susie's story: 'Sexual harassment at school is normal'

Warning this article contains some words you may find offensive.

For Susie, school wasn't a place where she felt safe.

She says she and her friends were repeatedly victims of sexual harassment and not a lot was done about it.

"I don't think my experiences at school were that unusual," she tells Newsbeat.

"But what was quite normal for me to see in school was a lot of groping in corridors, cat calling and shouting after girls and [girls] getting propositioned or girls being called sluts - things like that.

Susie's not alone.

A report by the Women and Equalities Committee suggests acts of abuse like those Susie mentions have become a part of "everyday life".

"It should be taken as a compliment apparently" Susie says.

"Somebody once shouted 'nice bum' after me and my friends and I turned around and gave him the finger and [the boys] said 'oh who said I was talking about you?' so it was a bit of a lose lose situation.

"There was this one time when I was about 11, a big group of boys who were about 16 and about two feet taller than me - I was tiny - all just grabbed me for no reason and wouldn't let me pass down the corridor and I was absolutely terrified.

The group of MPs who put together the report has told schools they need to have a zero tolerance approach to acts of sexual harassment in the classroom.

They've come up with a list of recommendations for schools, such as a law which forces them to take action against these acts.

Susie is part of the Girlguiding Charity, who have launched a petition calling on the Education Ministers of England, Scotland and Wales to end sexual harassment in schools.

"Of course it makes you very anxious and you don't feel like school's a safe place when that sort of thing is going on.

"Once my friend reported an incident where someone actually put his crotch on her face which was absolutely terrifying for her.

"He was spoken to but she got a lot of backlash from that for throwing him under the bus, from girls and boys which was quite upsetting for her,

"It does put other girls off from reporting incidents.

"I remember being in a classroom where a boy went around the class and was undoing girls bras through their t-shirts.

"The girls didn't make a fuss and were like 'oh that's funny' and laughed along with it when of course that's not funny, that's absolutely horrible.

"In hindsight I wish we had reported more things that were going on because it was very scary.

"I feel like if a lot of people had reported things then maybe it would have been dealt with."

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