Teenage boys uncertain about navigating consent and sexual culture
- New research by the University of Surrey explored how boys are being taught about consent at school and how they can relate to and interpret educational messages about consent.
- The study involved classroom observations, individual focus groups with boys and discussions with teachers.
- Most of the boys found these lessons helpful.
- Some felt that they were often framed as initiators of sex and struggled with dilemmas they would face while gaining consent from a partner.
- Author of the study, Emily Setty, said that “Education must deal with the realities of ambivalence, ambiguity, and uncertainty, rather than trying to smooth this over through rationalised consent education”.
- For more, please visit Surrey University’s website.
Teens will no longer see personalised ads on TikTok
- TikTok have announced an update to its policies around the data it uses to target users with ads.
- The main change relates to young users specifically, with TikTok moving to remove the of use of off-platform activity in informing targeted adverts.
- The platform announces that users aged 13 to 17 In the UK “will no longer see personalised ads on TikTok based on their activities on or off TikTok”.
- The update brings TikTok into line with the EU Digital Services Act (DSA), which comes into effect in the coming months and outlines new provisions that limit the use of data for younger users.
- TikTok is also rolling out new updates designed to increase transparency for all users, such as a ‘Clear my activity feature’ and new content transparency labels.
- For more, please visit the Social Media Today website.
One in six people face hunger in Northern Ireland
- A study by the Trussell Trust has shown that one in six people in Northern Ireland face hunger or food insecurity.
- The study examined how many people were going without food or cutting back, due to the cost of living.
- Karen Mullan from the Foyle Food Bank said that many foodbank users were single parents whose children lost free school meal provision in summer months.
- This is due to the Department of Education (DE) removing “holiday hunger payments in March due to funding cuts.
- For more, please visit the BBC News website.
