New research, commissioned by Our Watch and carried out by Hall and Partners at Open Mind, has informed the revamped ‘The Line’ website and Facebook page, and will build on the good work that has been achieved in this campaign in the past five years.

The research was overseen by Natasha Stott Despoja and surveyed 3,000 people. It found that young people still desperately need to know what a normal, healthy, respectful relationship looks like. Part of the problem seems to be that social media, which plays such a central role in most young people’s lives, allows previously unacceptable behaviours to be more easily carried out online. And parents are not discussing the issue sufficiently with their young people either.

Gender stereotypes are still a strong influence on behaviour. Some surprising findings are that one in three young people ‘don’t think that exerting control over someone else is a form of violence’, and that one in four young people ‘don’t think it’s serious if a guy, who’s normally gentle, sometimes slaps his girlfriend when he’s drunk and they’re arguing’.

A 23-page summary of the research findings, which were released this month, can be downloaded here.  The Our Watch policy brief called Working with children and young people can also be downloaded from this page. The research findings summary is well worth reading for anyone involved in working with young people across a range of areas including relationships, health, development and violence.

Access 'The Line' here. 

ACYS will shortly be publishing its latest Face the Facts briefing on violence against young women; keep an eye out for it on the ACYS website.