Teenage boys uncertain about navigating consent and sexual culture
- New research by the University of Surrey explored how boys are being taught about consent at school and how they can relate to and interpret educational messages about consent.
- The study involved classroom observations, individual focus groups with boys and discussions with teachers.
- Most of the boys found these lessons helpful.
- Some felt that they were often framed as initiators of sex and struggled with dilemmas they would face while gaining consent from a partner.
- Author of the study, Emily Setty, said that “Education must deal with the realities of ambivalence, ambiguity, and uncertainty, rather than trying to smooth this over through rationalised consent education”.
- For more, please visit Surrey University’s website.
Teens will no longer see personalised ads on TikTok
- TikTok have announced an update to its policies around the data it uses to target users with ads.
- The main change relates to young users specifically, with TikTok moving to remove the of use of off-platform activity in informing targeted adverts.
- The platform announces that users aged 13 to 17 In the UK “will no longer see personalised ads on TikTok based on their activities on or off TikTok”.
- The update brings TikTok into line with the EU Digital Services Act (DSA), which comes into effect in the coming months and outlines new provisions that limit the use of data for younger users.
- TikTok is also rolling out new updates designed to increase transparency for all users, such as a ‘Clear my activity feature’ and new content transparency labels.
- For more, please visit the Social Media Today website.
The following story may be regionalised.
‘Why did nobody stop our abusive teaching assistant?’
- A former teaching assistant at a school in Derbyshire, was described by a judge as a “persistent sexual predator”.
- He has been jailed-five years after two of his victims complained.
- In the time it took to be convicted, he targeted another pupil who attempted suicide because of the ordeal.
- Students reported that he had talked to them on social media, instructing them to answer questions on a sex questionnaire.
- One girl reported that the ex-teaching assistant used to wait outside her house.
- The man reported that his account had been hacked and he did not send the messages.
- At the time of investigation in 2018, police were unable to disprove his account due to technical issues.
- When the third victim complained the case was reopened and a fourth victim was also identified.
- The former teaching assistant was jailed for two years after pleading guilty to four counts of engaging in sexual communication with a child.
- For more, please visit the BBC News website.
