Megan Paterson

Victims Minister Alex Davies-Jones said she was horrified but not surprised by accounts from Tyneside teenagers describing sexual abuse, rape threats and a school “rape list” in which boys ranked girls they wanted to assault. The accounts appear alongside evidence of rising peer-on-peer sexual crimes and the North East’s high rate of violence against women and girls. The government plans curriculum changes from September to help teachers challenge misogyny, but Davies-Jones acknowledged that parents also have a crucial role. This Life Collective, which helped the girls produce a film about their experiences, warned that toxic masculinity promoted by social media influencers is contributing to increasingly aggressive language and attitudes among boys.