‘When my daughter first faced gender-based violence it was in the playground’
Have your say on these MetroTalk topics and more in the comments.
‘Violence against women begins in the playground’
Further to your new campaign, This Is Not Right, highlighting the shocking extent of violence carried out against women and girls, whether at home or otherwise (Metro, Mon).
I am a mother of twin girls. The worst abuse one of my daughters experienced was in their first school (which was rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted).
The perpetrator was a boy in her year. This abuse started when my daughter was nine years old.
The boy (also nine) set up a ‘sex corner’ in the playground, where he would pin my daughter to the railings and gyrate against her. He would constantly taunt her for ‘blow jobs’ and became physically violent, slapping her.
The school’s response was to play down this situation. There was a reluctance to write out incident reports and in one instance, I was told ‘he said he didn’t hit her hard’. This was from a female teacher.
His behaviour was never taken seriously in the constant five years of abuse, with it continuing into high school, before I removed both girls from the school.
Peer-on-peer abuse is rife in UK schools and an overhaul needs to take place.
Schools should be a safe place yet they so rarely are. Violence and misogyny begins at a younger age these days and schools need to address these issues rather than protect their reputations. Anon, via email
The assisted dying debate
‘There will be an unspoken pressure to end our lives’
Jenny Hands (MetroTalk, Tue) says legalising assisted dying would lead to the disabled and those with long-term health issues feeling pressured into taking that option in guilt at being a burden on others.
I couldn’t agree more. As a disabled person in a disabled community, there will be an underlying, unspoken pressure to end lives prematurely.
We will be made to feel guilty and selfish if we do not ease the ‘burden’ placed on family members, medics and social care.
Stephen Hawking was diagnosed at 21 and given an extremely short life expectancy. It is likely he would have chosen to end his life had he been given the choice. Instead he led a fulfilling life and career well into his 70s – the same for many spinal-cord injury people.
Many people who have accidents will want to end their lives when they experience life-changing injuries. In time, however, they come to accept and adapt and learn to live different but happy lives.
The stringent safeguards in place will get watered down over the years and before we know it, people with disabilities or mental health conditions will be offered a ‘way out’ with assisted dying. Maria, Tottenham
While I’m not against assisted dying, I wonder whether there will be an impact on insurance payouts? Will it be classed as suicide, therefore negating insurance? Susan Ryan, Oldham
Israel and accountability for war crimes
‘No justification for UK’s miltary exports’
Now the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the grounds of war crimes and crimes against humanity, there can be no justification in our government’s continued military exports to Israel.
Such exports should have been stopped long before now, considering evidence that has been openly available about the consequences of Israeli military action. Oxfam said this year that ‘lifesaving food, medicine, medical supplies, fuel and tents have been systematically blocked from entering Gaza’. Last month a UN commission of inquiry accused Israel of carrying out a ‘concerted policy to destroy Gaza’s healthcare system’.
The civilian casualty figures from the conflict have been sickening. Save The Children said, also last month, that ‘14,100 children have been killed in Gaza’.
Hamas may well be using civilians as human shields but we have seen that the Israeli tactic of attacking Hamas where they are claimed to be has led to civilians being killed in large numbers.
The catastrophic reality in Gaza – and now Lebanon – means there should be not just an arms embargo but full sanctions against Israel. Kevin, Watford
Britain’s moral duty to Tibet
‘Had Communist China not invaded Tibet my parents would still be alive’
Raffaele (MetroTalk, Thu) rightly points out that the Chinese Communist Party is
‘a transnational criminal organisation that could be linked to all the evil of recent historical events – whether Covid or wars’.
I know this to be true because had Communist China not invaded and occupied my country Tibet in 1959, my parents would still be alive.
China’s oppressive rule in Tibet has resulted in the loss of more than 1.2million Tibetan men, women and children. Hundreds remain imprisoned or in solitary confinement.
The amount of support the UK is providing Ukraine in fighting off Putin’s Russia is commendable. If the same level of support had then been given to Tibet, it would be free from China’s oppressive rule.
Because of its historic ties, Britain has a moral duty to speak up for Tibet. High time it does something positive for Tibet. Tsering Tashi, London
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