Young women spearhead Dundee campaign against peer sexual abuse

Elena Soper said young women designing the campaign was the best way to raise awareness

Young women in Dundee will create a new campaign promoting healthy relationships and tackling peer sexual abuse.

It follows a 2018 investigation by young women's movement YWCA Scotland into sexual harassment in Scottish schools.

The partnership behind the campaign is currently recruiting 16 to 18-year-olds across the city for the project.

The Young Women Know campaign will launch next year.

The project is a collaboration between NSPCC Scotland, YWCA Scotland, and Dundee City Council.

A 2018 NSPCC report on peer sexual abuse said Childline had held more than 3,000 counselling sessions with young people across the UK about the issue in the previous year.

'Personal experience'

Elena Soper, national programmes coordinator for YWCA Scotland, said: "I had my own personal experience of sexual harassment when I was at school and have heard stories from other young women who never reported what had happened or even knew there was a process in which to do so.

"I was 12 when it happened to me and I had no idea about boundaries and whether it was just normal behaviour."

She said the best way to raise awareness of the issue was to have young women and girls design the campaign themselves.

She said: "It is so important that we raise awareness that this is happening, and then look at how we can deal with it and help young people understand what a healthy relationship is and what is unacceptable."

The project will produce an information leaflet, posters and social media content for the campaign

It will also explore resources for school staff and parents to support young people to have "healthy relationships based on consent and respect".