The teen girls trying to ban school uniforms in porn - The Sunday Story

Manveen Rana (0:03)

From The Times and The Sunday Times, this is The Story on Sunday. I'm Manveen Rana.

Helen Rumbelow (0:11)

I grew up in London, so I started commuting to school, essentially, with the rush hour businessmen crowd at 11 And it was guys pressing against you. It was, you know, weirdness looks too much touching.

Manveen Rana (0:27)

At 11, getting to and from school could be a harrowing experience for Helen Rumbelow, who's now a feature writer and columnist at The Times.

Helen Rumbelow (0:37)

Obviously, at first, it's in the realm of the ambiguous, but then you're like, no, this isn't ambiguous at all.

I found it quite shocking at the time. In a sane world, obviously, a school uniform would decrease the chance of a girl getting harassed because it signals quite clearly that they're a child, that they're under 16 or whatever. That's not necessarily the world we live in. My experience was that school uniform was a kind of red rag to a pervert bull, basically.

Manveen Rana (1:08)

Sadly, a generation on, not much has changed.

Helen Rumbelow (1:12)

I think I was suffering under the delusion, as an adult woman, that it had actually improved. That was my sort of nice, rosy optimism about the whole situation.

Manveen Rana (1:26)

That illusion was shattered when Helen interviewed a group of school girls.

Helen Rumbelow (1:31)

Going and talking to these girls, I realized, no, it hasn't got better. It's just that I'm an adult, so I'm not experiencing it. I'm not wearing that uniform anymore.

Manveen Rana (1:43)

The four brave and very inspiring young women that Helen interviewed were fed up with the sexualisation of school uniforms in popular culture and porn and the risk that creates for them and their peers.

Willow (1:59)

I feel like it's worse if you're wearing a school uniform and you get cackled because then it highlights the fact that you're a minor, that you still attend school, so people should be aware of that.

Aylin (2:08)

It's clear having school uniforms in pornography is directly simulating a child, and I think it needs to be banned, it needs to be regulated, it needs to be something that people take seriously.

Manveen Rana (2:23)

Now, they're campaigning to ban the use of school uniforms in porn.

Helen Rumbelow (2:29)

They're quite brave really, because to take this on is to take on some of the darkest forces, I would say, in our society, and make themselves a target.

Manveen Rana (2:52)

So, why does the law allow school uniforms, the sort of uniforms worn by around 10 million minors in the UK, to feature in porn? And will these girls persuade Parliament to change the law?

The story today, the school girls trying to ban school uniforms in porn.

Helen Rumbelow (3:29)

I have previously done quite a bit of work with Professor Claire McGlynn, who is a law professor at Durham University, but she's also been over the last few years a complete dynamo about reforming the laws about pornography in this country. And I was talking to her and she mentioned to me that these girls had approached her for legal advice on this issue because she is basically the world expert.

And obviously I was interested.

Manveen Rana (3:57)

Helen, you went to meet these girls. Just describe where you are.

Helen Rumbelow (4:02)

I arrived at the Cooper School in Bicester at essentially going home time. So I was against the tide of probably thousands of kids in school uniform and I met them in one of their classrooms. So I wonder if you could go around just in terms, so I can get your voices when I listen back. If you could just say your name and your age.

Willow (4:26)

I'm Willow, I'm 14 and I go to the Coupe and I'm in year 10

Helen Rumbelow (4:32)

Okay, cool.

Aylin (4:33)

I'm Aylin, I'm 15 and I'm a member of the Little Feminist Book Club.

Helen Rumbelow (4:38)

Cool.

Mae (4:39)

I'm Mae, I'm also 15 and I'm in year 11

Aylin (4:44)

I'm Rose, I'm also 15 and I'm also in year 11

Helen Rumbelow (4:48)

So it was that kind of end of school gray bleakness. We sat on the plastic chairs, the whiteboard was there and we had our little kind of mini seminar around a school desk.

Manveen Rana (5:03)

What exactly are they campaigning for?

Helen Rumbelow (5:05)

So very simply they want to ban their use of school uniform in porn.

Willow (5:10)

Because like pornography, it's for adults. So why are you sexualising outfits that children wear? If they're meant to stay, like it's not socially acceptable for children to be on these websites like themselves. But why are they being featured on their in school uniforms? It's not right.