Teenage girls in the UK have said they do not feel safe walking on the streets alone and experienced some form of harassment, a poll showed.
Some 44 per cent girls said they do not feel safe alone in the streets while 27 per cent said they experienced sexual harassment, according to a poll by BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Bitesize.
Around 24 per cent of the adolescent boys who were surveyed said they also felt unsafe in the streets.
The poll surveyed 2,000 teenagers – an equal number of boys and girls aged 13-18 – who were asked questions on a range of topics, including anxiety, social media, vaping, pornography, and sexting.
Among those who experienced abuse, a third (37 per cent) said they experienced verbal abuse such as name-calling and being yelled at, while 19 per cent said they experienced sexual harassment, like leering or wolf whistles, the survey said.
Over 33 per cent of adolescents aged 13 to 18 have reported encountering pornography online, and an overwhelming 73 per cent of teenagers believe that social media and technology companies should intensify their efforts to prevent accidental access to such content on the internet.
A fifth of the 980 teenage girls in the poll said they received unsolicited nude images or videos from a peer while 16 per cent of both male and female said they were requested by their peers to share nude pictures or videos.
