Taibat Hussain, DEV Postgraduate Researcher

ABSTRACT

Sexual violence is a pervasive issue in educational settings worldwide, and the proliferation of digital technology such as mobile phones, the Internet, and social media has provided additional channels through which sexual violence is experienced and perpetrated among peers and non-peers. This has important implications, as students may simultaneously experience multiple forms of sexual violence in both physical and cyberspaces. While there has been a growing body of research on digital sexual violence and its consequences on school-going adolescents, most studies have focused on Western contexts, with little to no empirical evidence available on how digital technology affects sexual violence in school contexts in the global South, including Nigeria. Anecdotal evidence, however, suggests that this issue is on the rise among adolescents in the country (Olaniyi 2022; The Guardian 2023). Through this study, I seek to extend the current discourse on school-related sexual violence in physical spaces to include forms of sexual violence facilitated or assisted by digital technology within the Nigerian context. By employing a qualitative approach that includes workshops, interviews, and focus groups, with a focus on  two public senior secondary schools in Ilorin-Nigeria, I  will  examine school-going adolescent girls’ experiences of sexual violence, interrogate their use of digital technology, and how this relates to their experiences of and vulnerability to sexual violence, as well as their and the school responses, to provide insights and evidence that can lead to practical changes in schools and policies that address school-related sexual violence.