Boiz locker room incident brought back into focus the importance of having conversations with children and adolescents on incidents of transgressions as incidents and its reporting continue to surge. One of the pitfalls of having well aware and curious adolescents is the premature exposure to news of sexual and physical violence. Though these could act as a pretext for much needed conversations on sex, sexuality, consent, attraction; absence of it could result in curiosity being fed through uninformed sources or from those that may not be aligned with your values and hopes. As parents, teachers, caretakers, we may grapple with our own anxieties around the best way and best time to broach these topics. Sometimes, it may not be lack of intent but lack of knowledge and skills that come in the way of having open and candid conversations. Consequently, it’s a missed opportunity to understand the meaning the adolescents make of the news, dealing with their own physiological changes including experiencing arousal and sexual attraction and how to respond to it. Evolutionary, the intrinsic response to those confusing and sometimes intense emotions of attraction would be to dominate and assert power, not recognizing the traumatic and horrifying impact on survivors of abuse.

The session, conducted by Child Safety at Work and organized by SooLegal focused on building safe spaces at home and school for children of 11-16 years and how to have nuanced conversations on sex, sexuality, consent, attraction etc., signs to identify different forms of abuse and awareness about legal provisions around these topics.

Helpful for parents, teachers and independent consultants (lawyers, psychologists, HR professionals, social workers, any others working in this space).