DigitalMe: RCTN School Uniform Campaign
Young Women Activists are being supported by Digital Voice to raise awareness of the policing of school uniform. According to Rape Crisis Tyneside and Northumberland’s research 97% of respondents told them that their uniforms were policed in a public place and 68% stated that the policing of their uniform had a negative impact on their education.
“It’s happened so much that i’ve lost count… It made me feel more self- conscious about my height and my weight, and I considered stopping wearing skirts… It made me more insecure about my appearance”
[Respondent age 15 educated in Gateshead, who has recently been told that her skirt length was ‘obscene’].
DigitalMe and Rape Crisis Tyneside and Northumberland worked together on the campaign to help them produce four short DigitalMe pieces to represent the findings of the survey.
“Digital Voice helped bring the voices of young women and girls to life. The animations our Young Women’s Steering Group created alongside Digital Voice are so great! They have been a vital asset to build engagement in our campaign to raise awareness of and challenge the sexualised and sexist nature of school uniform policing.”
Dawn Bowman, Volunteer Coordinator, Rape Crisis Tyneside and Northumberland
DigitalMe expresses personal feelings about difficult experiences whilst staying anonymous and developing digital skills.
“Digital Voice hopes that our support to make these pieces has really strengthened the group’s campaign”
Julie Nicholson, Managing Director, Digital Voice
Due to the pandemic, Digital Voice worked virtually with the group- supporting them to create and edit the artwork, graphics and scripts. They will use the finished pieces to help strengthen their campaign and they hope they will be successful in changing the culture around policing of what women and girls wear.
For more information on the campaign go follow the RCTN Social Media sites:
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/rape.crisis.tyneside.northumberland
Twitter- @RapecrisisTN
Instagram- @Rape_crisis_TN