Assembly Speaker - Allison Havey, The Rap Project
The speaker began with her concerns surrounding the privacy of children on the internet and one's “lack of childhood online”. This introduced the primary issue of the effect of sexual and violent content accessible to minors and the damage it could do. The content within the porn industry has become more male dominating, violent and misogynistic in recent times, and this element could easily be instilled in the youth of today which is very worrying especially given the easy accessibility to sites like Pornhub, which is free and online. Pornhub was founded in 2008, and spiked the curve of the global intake of pornography.
Modern porn focusses a lot around gender stereotypes, sometimes in a grotesque fashion, risking that further stereotypes are embedded in young people, mainly young men, about how they should behave in relationships, and what being ‘manly’ entails - she referred to reductive stereotypes like should be ‘strong and powerful’ ’ and “boys don’t cry”. Rather than focussing on the negativity surrounding this culture, the speaker urged us to refer instead to “positive” or “constructive” masculinity which instead focuses on the potential good that there can be within humanity, regardless of gender.
She outlined that the more violent side of porn can unfortunately endorse a lot of rape culture, the jokes, slut-shaming, victim blaming, objectification and plain disrespect towards other people. Many of these things have been normalised and praised through influential and misogynistic internet personas like Andrew Tate. His possession of a large platform is dangerous due to some of his ethics and morals that he posts about frequently. He has been noted saying that “if a woman is raped she is partially to blame”, an obviously problematic statement that has been followed with many more of the same nature. The speaker recommended a book (The Art of War) to which the takeaway was, “don’t react” which I agree with to a certain extent concerning the more minor forms of harassment like catcalling. However, she strongly advised that once harassment persists it requires someone to step in otherwise the prosecutor will never be held accountable for their actions, and we should never be afraid to call it out.
The speaker then continued into the topic of sexual harassment and assault, namely the stigma created by men like Andrew Tate who insinuate that the percentage of false allegations is more of a problem than it is. Not only is this untrue (3-4% of sexual assault allegations have been declared false by the Home Office and 2-6% across Europe and the US) but this argument is often us approximately 97% of women experience some form of sexual violence or harassment in their lifetimes, for the majority, at the hands of men.
Back to the topic of pornography, the speaker questioned whether or not it may be losing its appeal, perhaps due to the steadily accumulating violence and porn addiction having been spoken about more freely in recent times. The awareness of the dangers surrounding porn addiction have also had light shed on them in recent times; excessive use of porn can lead to erectile dysfunction and create an unrealistic expectation for one’s personal sex life. That being said, she outlined that masturbation is perfectly normal and it can actually benefit us in reducing stress, relieving tension, improving focus and sleep and even aid the prevention of depression and anxiety. The speaker urged us, therefore, to “honour your erotic nature”, explore and be unashamed of your sexual drives.
Finally, the speaker covered revenge porn and sexting, the two often go hand in hand with explicit images or videos having been sent to one party, being sent by them to others as a form of revenge or pure malice. This is not always the case but often, sending “nudes” places you in a vulnerable position, especially if you don't know the person very well. A “digital footprint” is everything you do on the internet and while you can delete things from your phone, it is near impossible to wipe them from the internet forever and somewhere there will be a record of your “nudes”. If any photos or videos of yours get leaked by someone you may have thought you could trust, don't blame yourself, tell someone (if you’re a minor, confide in a trusted adult) and try not to let it control your life!
The assembly was extremely helpful, in particular the way that it tackled potentially embarrassing and difficult topics in a really accessible and safe way.
Florrie - Sixth Form Senior Prefect
