Leave site now >>
0-9
A
B
C
Child Sexual Abuse (CSA)
involves forcing or persuading a child or young person under the age of 18 to take part in sexual activities, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. 
Child-centred
gives priority to the needs and interests of the child, listening to them and keeping them in focus when making decisions that affect their lives. 
Coercive Control
is an act or a pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish or frighten the victim.
Consent
happens when all people involved in any kind of sexual activity agree to take part by choice. They also need to have the freedom and the capacity to make that choice.
D
Domestic Violence (DV)
is an incident or pattern of controlling, coercive, threatening and violence behaviour, in the majority of cases by a partner or former partner, but also by a family member. 
E
F
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
is a practice that involves harm to and removal of a girl’s external genitals, for non-medical reasons. FGM is illegal in the UK and a form of child abuse.
Forced Marriage
is a marriage where one or both people do not or cannot consent to the marriage, but are coerced into it by their families or community. Forced marriage is illegal in the UK.
G
Gender-based Violence (GBV)
 is any type of harm directed against a person because of their gender.
Gillick Competence
refers to a young person under 16 with capacity to make any relevant decision, if they have sufficient maturity and intelligence to understand the nature and implications of such a decision. 
Grooming
 is when someone builds a relationship, trust and emotional connection with a child or young person so they can manipulate, exploit and abuse them. 
H
Harmful Sexual Behaviour (HSB)
is developmentally inappropriate sexual behaviour displayed by children and young people which is harmful or abusive. 
Heteronormativity
is based on the assumption that heterosexuality is the norm and erases other people’s sexual and gender identity. 
Honour Based Violence (HBV)
is a crime or incident which has, or may have been, committed to defend the so-called ‘honour’ of the family or community.
I
Intersectionality
is a term rooted within Black feminism and can be defined as ‘a conceptual framework or a prism for seeing how various forms of inequality operate together and exacerbate each other’ (Crenshaw, 1989).
J
K
L
LGBTQIA+
is an acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, questioning, intersex, and asexual, plus. These terms are used to describe a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. 
M
Misogynoir
refers to the anti-Black and misogynistic racism Black women experience; a term coined by Moya Bailey in 2008.
N
Non-binary and Gender Non-conforming
are umbrella terms referring to people who identify outside of the male-female gender binary.
O
P
Peer on peer abuse
is a form of harmful sexual behaviour where sexual abuse takes place between children of a similar age or stage of development. 
Pupil Referral Units (PRUs)
teach children who aren’t able to attend school, mostly due to their exclusion from mainstream education.
Q
R
Rape
happens when someone didn’t want to have sex or didn’t give consent for sex to happen. If there is no consent, it’s rape. Rape is a form of sexual violence. 
Rape Culture
refers to a society where sexual violence and abuse is normalised, played down and laughed off. 
Relationships and Sex Education (RSE)
is learning about the emotional, social and physical aspects of growing up, relationships, sex, human sexuality and sexual health. 
Rights-based Approach
means making sure that human rights are put at the very centre of policies and practices, promoting and protecting them.
S
Sexual Assault
happens when someone touches another person in a sexual manner or makes another person take part in a sexual activity, without their consent. It includes unwanted sexual touching and kissing. 
Street Harassment
is any kind of unwanted sexual attention such as cat-calling, wolf-whistling, groping, flashing in any public space including public transport or on a street.
T
Transgender young woman
is a term used to describe someone who is assigned male at birth but identifies and lives as a young woman. It can be shortened to trans young woman.
Trauma-informed Approach (TIA)
is grounded in an understanding of, and responsiveness to, the impact of trauma.
U
V
W
Whole School Approach (WSA)
a holistic approach to preventing gender-based violence through education. The WSA model engages the whole school and wider community in preventing abuse and promoting equality.
X
Y
Z