Southwest Sydney schools report incidences of assault, indecent assault on campus
Violent pornography access from the age of 10 is a factor in a 44 per cent increase in indecent assaults in school, according to frontline service operators like Hayley Foster.
The Express
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In Bankstown, a student allegedly being sexually assaulted on campus by another student is just one of 12 incidents recorded in a single term as indecent assaults in NSW schools skyrocketed by 44 per cent in 12 months.
Another student allegedly sexually assaulted by a classmate was reportedly having suicidal ideations on campus after their experience.
Experts in the sexual trauma counselling space believe exposure to violent pornography at a young age is a factor, and are concerned with the increase in extreme forms of sexual violence.
Fairfield was ranked as having the seventh highest amounts of recorded incidents when comparing principal’s networks in NSW, with 29 assaults listed.
Chipping Norton was ranked just underneath it, with 28 recorded incidents listed, all of which were assaults.
Suicide rates among schoolchildren also jumped by almost 50 per cent from 83 in 2019 to 123 in 2020, according to the Department of Education’s register of “serious” incidents.
When it came to indecent assaults – which are assaults of a sexual nature that do not involve rape – the vast majority were student on student.
Hayley Foster is CEO of counselling, training and advocacy group Full Stop Australia, which also operates as a frontline service for victims of sexual assault.
She said that children as young as 10 were now viewing violent pornography online, and it was affecting their perceptions of sex, gendered behaviours and expectations, and likelihood of sexual violence.
“From working on the front lines, and speaking to emergency departments, we are seeing more extreme forms of sexual violence, and worse injuries,” Ms Foster said.
“We do think it has a lot to do with pornography, and accessibility to really violent and degrading pornography, and children accessing it from their teens.”
That includes a normalisation of choking and anal sex, and worse presentations when people come forward to discuss their experiences of sexual assault.
“Young people, when they’re asked did not necessarily want to do [asphyxiation and anal sex], but thought it was something they should be doing,” Ms Foster said.
Ms Foster also noted that the current climate, in which people feel more empowered to speak about their sexual assaults, is also playing a role in the increase of numbers of sexual assault.
She said that the number of reported sexual assaults has increased by 70 per cent in the past 10 years, but frontline services have not seen the same funding increase.
“The largest cohort of people we support are aged 15-25. We are seeing more and more young people call in,” Ms Foster said.
“But we can only answer two out of three calls. Some don’t call back or leave a message, then lose the confidence to report.”
Mandatory respectful relationship education is being introduced to students across Australia, which Ms Foster said would go a long way to replacing porn as how young people learn about sex.
“We need to get in front of it and not rely on the internet to educate our children on sexual experiences.”
Child psychologist Rose Cantali said the rise in attempted suicides could have been driven by lockdowns, which led to students’ mental health deteriorating.
“The things like going to school, talking to friends, they’ve been denied all that and it is going to increase suicidal thoughts,” Ms Cantali told The Daily Telegraph.
Opposition education spokeswoman Prue Car called on the government to do more for students’ mental health.
“There are not enough school counsellors in NSW, and rectifying this is one way the NSW government can address their shortcomings in supporting student mental health now,” she said.
The Department of Education did not respond to questions by deadline.
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