Preventing and responding to gender based violence: a whole school framework

Appendix B: Glossary

Equally Safe at School contains an explanation of different types of GBV which staff may encounter in schools, which have informed this glossary.

Bystander: in the context of GBV, a bystander is someone who witnesses or observes an act of violence but does not participate in it and is not directly involved. Bystanders have an opportunity to intervene through words or actions to halt or disrupt the violence.

Child sexual abuse: Sexual abuse of children involves most sexual activity with a child under 16 years of age, usually be an adult or young person. Older children are able to consent to limited types of sexual activity with each other, provided that they are both aged between 13 and 15. Further information can be found on Education Scotland National Improvement Hub.

Child sexual exploitation: Child sexual exploitation is a form of child sexual abuse in which someone takes advantage of a power imbalance to force or entice a child into sexual activity in return for something received by the child, and/or received by those perpetrating the abuse. This could include money, drugs, alcohol, a place to stay, protection from violence or a sense of belonging. As with other forms of child sexual abuse, the presence of perceived consent does not mean it isn’t sexual abuse. Further information can be found on Education Scotland National Improvement Hub.

Coercive control: Coercive control can take place in any relationship, including within young people’s relationships. It is a pattern of controlling behaviours such as assault, threats, intimidation or humiliation that create an unequal power dynamic in a relationship and leaves one person frightened. The frightened partner will find it difficult to leave due to the other person having a lot of control over them. It is a criminal offence and a form of abuse.

Signs of coercive control can be difficult to identify. It may include isolating someone from friends, controlling how they spend their time and attempts to humiliate someone. The person may feel intimidation, fear or discomfort around friends of their partner, and not just the partner themselves. It is important to understand the impact coercive control can have on those affected. Coercive control can damage self-esteem, strip someone of their agency and they may blame themselves for what has happened. A supportive approach from responsible school staff is important to reinforce that they are not to blame and encourage them to think about what they need. Supporting the pupil to gain back some of the control lost through their experience. In some cases, attempts to end an abusive relationship may lead to escalation in controlling behaviours. With the pupil’s consent, signposting to services such as Women’s Aid should be considered. If there is a child protection referral in place, this should only be done following discussion with the core agency taking forward.

Commercial Sexual Exploitation: can include: prostitution, lap dancing, stripping, pornography, human trafficking and sex for rent. It is included within Equally Safe’s definition of Violence Against Women and Girls, and related policy principles to inform relevant policy and practice across government and the wider public sector can be found here.

Consent: Consent is defined as ‘free agreement’. Where some form of coercion, violence or threat is used, this means there has been no consent given. The Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 provides a list of situations where consent could not be given, including where the victim is incapable of consenting because of the effect of alcohol or any other substance. It is important to remember that the age of consent in Scotland is 16. This is the case whether the child or young person is straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual and/ or transgender. Scottish Government’s Healthy Relationships and Consent: key messages for young people notes that consent is not a case of one person seeking and the other providing. Consent should be a mutual process which doesn’t only mean asking for and relying upon verbally obtained consent, but being aware of body language and non-verbal responses, as an ongoing process. Consent can be withdrawn at any time. Consent is required every time sexual activity takes place, even if a person has consented before.

Culture: in the context of this framework, we use ‘culture’ to refer to the ethos and values of the school. A positive school culture of safety, inclusion, listening to children and young people, and awareness of GBV within school communities helps to both prevent GBV and to create the environment in which it can be effectively addressed when incidents occur.

Disclosure: sharing sensitive personal information. In the case of GBV, there may not be a clear disclosure event, or the child or young person may not be aware that what they are describing is GBV, or they may be unsure what to make of their experience.

Discrimination: there are two main types of discrimination

• Direct discrimination happens when a person is treated differently because of the way they are, for example because of their sex.
• Indirect discrimination happens when something applies to everyone in the same way but affects some people unfairly, for example policies which unequally impact a specific group in a community.

Diversity: the inclusion of many different people from different backgrounds.

Domestic abuse: refers to any type of abuse between partners or ex-partners, including verbal, physical, sexual, emotional, or financial abuse, stalking, harassment, and image- based abuse.

Equality: Equality is about creating a fairer society where everyone can participate and has the opportunity to fulfil their potential.

Female genital mutilation: Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a non-medical procedure where the external female genitals are completely or partially removed and any other injury to the organ. There are many reasons stated for FGM to be performed and the most common reasons are: for a girl to become a woman; to prevent what is considered unacceptable sexual behaviour; a cultural tradition; association with cleanliness and femininity. However, FGM is a violation of girls’ and women’s human rights. It is illegal in the UK and it is illegal for a UK citizen to be taken overseas for have FGM performed.

Forced marriage: A forced marriage is where one or both people do not consent (or cannot consent) to a marriage and pressure or abuse is used to force them in to the marriage. Forced marriage is illegal in the UK. It is a form of domestic abuse and a serious abuse of human rights. Forcing someone to marry isn’t always physical, it can also include being coerced or blackmailed or being put under emotional pressure (e.g. Being made to feel they are bringing shame on the family, being denied freedom or money, being pressured into marrying as it would make the elders in the family happy). In some cases, people may be taken abroad without knowing that they are to be married.

Gender based violence: The Scottish Government’s Equally Safe strategy defines GBV as “any form of violence used to establish, enforce or perpetuate gender inequalities and keep in place gendered orders”.

Gender identity: a person’s deeply-felt internal and individual experience of gender. This may or may not correspond with their sex at birth.

Gender reassignment: see ‘transgender/trans’ below.

Gender stereotypes: Despite some recent progress, in society, boys are generally expected to be unemotional, strong, attracted to girls, sporty and to conform to ideals of masculine physical attractiveness. Girls are generally expected to be nurturing, emotional, helpful, attracted to boys, and to conform to ideals of feminine physical attractiveness. These are called gender ‘stereotypes’, ‘gender norms’ or ‘gender rules’. Many young people find these ‘stereotypes’ too restrictive; they can experience peer pressure to conform to them or may experience bullying if they are seen to break the ‘rules’.

Harassment: The Equality Act 2010 defines harassment as when one person engages in unwanted conduct, including of a sexual nature, towards another person related to a relevant protected characteristic, which has the purpose of violating their dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. The full definition can be found here.

Honour-based violence: Honour-based abuse is abuse or violence towards somebody who is seen to have broken the “honour code” of a family or community. A victim may be accused of having shamed the family or destroyed their reputation within their community and be subjected to a range of violent acts and behaviours. The abuse could be physical, emotional or sexual. There is no specific law on honour-based abuse. All cases will be prosecuted under criminal law according to each specific offence that has been committed, for example assault, kidnap, rape or murder.

Hypermasculinity: a term used to describe emphasis on displaying harmful masculine behaviour, including aggression, physical strength, and male sexuality.

Intersectional / intersectionality: is the recognition that social inequalities, and consequently people’s experiences and identities, are shaped by several factors at once, including race, sexuality, gender identity, age, class, disability, and faith.

LGBTQI+: The acronym LGBTQI+ stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Queer/ Questioning and Intersex and refers collectively to two distinctive equality areas of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Minoritised: a verb used to describe making a person or group subordinate in status to the dominant social group, through social processes of power and domination.

Misogyny: describes belief or feelings that women are inferior to men; contempt or prejudice against women.

Objectification: to treat a person as an object or thing.

Perpetrate/perpetrator: refers to the person who has carried out the GBV. As this framework focuses on children and young people within schools, we have not used this terminology, however children and young people may utilise this term to describe their experiences.

Prevention: within the context of this framework, this refers to actions taken by a school to work towards gender equality and create an ethos in which GBV is not tolerated, where all members of a school community know what GBV is, how to recognise it, and know that that these behaviours are not acceptable within the school community.

Protected characteristics: it is against the law to discriminate against someone because of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. These are called protected characteristics and are protected under the Equality Act 2010.

Rape: Rape is defined by the law as when someone puts their penis into a person’s vagina, anus or mouth without their consent. This means that the person did not give permission for this to happen. Rape does not have to involve physical restraint or force. No consent can sometimes mean that one person coerces another person to have sex when they don’t want or don’t feel ready to. See definition of ‘Consent’, above.

Rights-based approach: an approach which is guided by the principles and furthers the realisation of the rights of all children as outlined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

Sexism: discrimination, prejudice or stereotyping, typically against women, on the basis of sex.

Sexual assault: Sexual assault includes a range of sexual acts that a person does not consent to. It can involve any kind of sexual touching with a part of the body or an object without consent, including over clothing. It can also involve putting a part of the body or an object into a person’s vagina, anus or mouth without their consent. It does not have to involve physical restraint or physical violence, sometimes it can be one person making another person to do something sexual that they don’t want to do or don’t feel ready for.

Sexual harassment: can include: attempts to shame, embarrass or humiliate someone in relation to gender roles or stereotypes; comments that hypersexualise, fetishise or exoticise people of colour, LGBTQI+ people and/or other minoritised groups; comments or behaviours intended to shame or humiliate boys in relation to masculinity such as comments about their genitalia, pulling down their shorts (referred to as “Pantsing”, which may be more prevalent against gender non-conforming children and young people), calling them ‘gay’ as an insult.

Sexual images: this term is used to refer to sexual or explicit images, which may be taken or stored on smartphones, cameras or video recording devices. The sharing of sexual images without consent is a criminal offense.

Sexual orientation: sexual orientation describes who an individual is physically and/or emotionally attracted to.

Stalking: Stalking is a course of conduct – this means an incident that takes place two or more times – that places another person in a state of fear or alarm. Stalking can involve a range of behaviours and tactics to make a person afraid. This can include unwanted calls, texts, emails or messages and comments on social media. It can mean turning up unexpectedly, following, loitering and giving verbal abuse. It can even include leaving unwanted gifts or cards, that other people may perceive as a kind gesture, where the perpetrator knew, or ought to have known in all the circumstances, that it would likely cause the person to suffer fear or alarm.

Survivor and victim: refers to the person who has experienced GBV. As this framework focuses on children and young people within schools, we have not used this terminology, however children and young people may utilise this term to describe their experiences and/or themselves.

Transgender/trans: The guidance uses the terms ‘transgender’ and ‘trans’ as umbrella terms for those whose gender identity differs in some way from the sex assigned at birth. Young people and their families may prefer to use other terms.

The term ‘gender reassignment’ is the protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010 which relates to transgender people. Under the Act, a young person has the protected characteristic of gender reassignment if they propose to undergo, are undergoing or have undergone any part of a process for the purpose of reassigning their sex. This is a personal process, rather than a medical process, for example the young person may propose to change their name and pronouns.

Trauma: Traumatic events have been defined as ‘an event, a series of events, or a set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or life threatening.’ In schools the term nurture or nurturing approaches may be used as a response to traumatic events instead of trauma informed.

Violence against women and girls: While the terms VAWG and GBV are sometimes used interchangeably, VAWG is a subset of GBV specifically targeting women and girls due to their unequal status in society. Please see the Scottish Government’s Equally Safe strategy.