UK law should ban school uniform in pornography to stop the sexualisation of children, and adults must take responsibility for enacting it
Source: Rose, Mae, Aylin and Willow. "We’re teenage girls fighting to ban the use of school uniform in porn. Why have you left it up to us? | Rose, Mae, Aylin and Willow | The Guardian." October 23, 2026. www.theguardian.com
The Gist
The authors, four teenage girls, say that porn and other media showing adults in school uniforms make girls who wear real uniforms feel unsafe and make harassment more likely. They want the law changed to ban this content, and they argue that adults and politicians should act instead of leaving it to schoolchildren.
Conclusion
UK law should be amended to ban the depiction of school uniform in pornography, regardless of the performers' actual age, and adults and politicians, not teenage girls, must take responsibility for making this happen.
Premises
- The incoming UK law banning pornography involving anyone pretending to be under 16 will not cover adults dressed in older-schoolchild uniforms, leaving a legal grey area.
- Sexualised depictions of school uniform, in porn, sex shops and mainstream media, associate children's clothing with sexual acts and normalise the sexualisation of minors.
- This association harms real children: girls feel uncomfortable wearing uniform, change their dress, and one in three girls reports being sexually harassed while in uniform, with many testimonies of catcalling and assault.
- Children's clothing, which is meant to signify unity, community, safety and learning, should not be coded as sexual, so only children should wear school uniform and it should not be portrayed as 'sexy'.
- The campaign has gained broad support from adults, MPs and ministers, and amending existing legislation is a feasible, quick route to closing the gap.
- Teenagers in the middle of their GCSEs cannot be expected to carry the burden of legal change, and adults and politicians who have pledged to protect girls have a responsibility to act.
Assumptions
- Sexualised depictions of school uniform in pornography causally contribute to the harassment and discomfort girls experience in uniform.
- Banning adult performers in school uniform will meaningfully reduce the sexualisation of real schoolchildren rather than just displacing it.
- The harm to children outweighs adults' interests in freedom of expression and consenting adult pornography.
- The proposed law is workable and definable, so 'school uniform' can be clearly distinguished from other clothing.
- Politicians' pledges on violence against women and girls create an obligation to enact this specific measure.
- Anecdotal testimony and survey data on harassment in uniform are representative of a broader problem linked to pornographic imagery.