Gaia Rose Cawley

PhD thesis:

How is educational context associated with rape culture attitudes? A mixed-methods comparison of online secondary schools vs in-person secondary schools in England.

Schools play a crucial role in either challenging or perpetuating harmful norms and attitudes surrounding gender, power and consent. With increased reports of abuse and harassment in both traditional and virtual school settings, understanding the association between educational context and rape culture attitudes is urgent. Utilising a mixed-methods design, the proposed study aims to fill this gap by comparing rape culture-related attitudes of young people attending online vs in-person schools in England. Given the rapid growth of the virtual education market and the scarcity of research on online schools, this pioneering study offers an opportunity to generate foundational knowledge. Moreover, these findings have the potential to inform national policy and curriculum design updates.

Who or what inspired you to pursue your research interests?

Experiencing domestic abuse during my undergraduate degree completely changed the course of my life and career. It inspired both my academic interest and the drive to create meaningful change. Collaborating with key organisations in the VAWG sector, such as prevention education charity Tender, has highlighted critical gaps in policy and practice. As an early-career researcher, I am interested in exploring the cultural and structural inequalities that enable and sustain gender-based violence. One of my MSc dissertation’s key findings was the harmful messages outside of the classroom that encourage rape culture, which I want to investigate further in my PhD.