This continuum from sexual bullying to violence against women is keenly recognised by Tender, an educational charity that works with 13- to 18-year-olds in 85 secondary schools and pupil referral units in greater London. Its project, Trust, uses creative arts to challenge tolerance of violence. "Although young people initially agreed male violence towards women is wrong," says artistic director Tamsin Larby, "scratching under the surface revealed both sexes felt that physical or sexual violence is acceptable in certain situations." Tender conducted a survey with 288 young Londoners about their attitudes towards domestic and sexual violence. Twenty-nine per cent of male and female students felt it was sometimes OK for a man to hit a woman if she'd slept with someone else; 80% thought that girls and women sometimes encourage violence and abuse by the way they dress, and 76% thought a woman encourages violence by not treating men with respect.
On questionnaires asking students why they think a girl might be responsible for violence, one boy wrote: "If a woman is unfaithful, but not a proper beating, just a slap." Girls, worryingly, often blame themselves. This comment - "Sometimes they can provoke the person or give them false hope. Because some girls dress like sluts and they act all flirty, so then obviously boys will rape them or whatever" - was from a girl.
