"Women are not just conquests to be won, or objects, they're worth something and they're intelligent, they're meant for something." - Anna
"If I tell my teachers about boxing, they're like, 'Oh, do you do boxercise? Do you train once a week or something?' I have to explain that I box for England" - Violet
"I have been stopped and searched six times because of a description that I look like a male, and I'm not a man. And the fact that when I asked for a female officer search me, I have that right legally, they said no. I mean they searched me unlawfully, very abusive, put my face into a brick wall. And I thought like, 'These people are supposed to be here to help me? Like make me feel protected?'...I don't feel safe, because the way people look at black youths, like we're criminals. Do you know what I mean like? I was born here, I love everything about London. But I don't feel safe and that's a problem. You know, we're 17, 16, 18, grown up here, we should be able to like walk down the street and have a good laugh with our mates without the police trying to take us out." - Esther, London (Right Hand Side)
"Most young girls who live at home when they hit to a certain age, their parents will give them that talk about the sanitary products and things they need to know about their health. Whereas when you're in the care system, the foster carers you live with don't see it as a vital information that we need to know. So, we only find out when it actually happens to us." - Joanne [Left]
"The biggest challenge I have being girl here in Northern Ireland would be pay gaps. I've always wanted to be a dentist. Ever since I was in P-6, I've always said I want to be a dentist when I'm older, no compromise. And then I looked up statistics recently and turns out that there is a giant pay gap this year alone. Giant pay gap between male and female dentists. Despite the fact that majority of the people going into local universities are female for dentistry. We're getting a lot less pay. So basically, if we want to make the same money as them, we have to work harder, we have to get higher up. And that doesn't seem fair at all." - Rachel, Belfast
Sisters, Norwich Countryside.
"If people shout at me in the streets you best believe I’m going to shout back." - Matilda, London
“There was one time, I think I was 17, there was a big group of men, they ordered loads of ice cream, like a lot, like a stupid amount. They clearly didn’t want the ice cream; they were just being horrible. And afterwards they just threw money on the ground and then when I bent down to pick it up they called me things like ‘cum bank’, you know, just ‘slag’, you know, typical things like that. But I remember ‘cum bank’ specifically. It’s really common. Like, me and my friends discuss the kind of people we get at work and the kinds of comments we get at work almost every day." -Emma, Bridlington
"I wouldn't really walk around the streets on my own now because of the stories we hear, and people being harassed in the streets. I wouldn't walk around here on my own, personally. It makes me feel ashamed to not be able to go out of my own house to go into my own village on my own, because it's that thought constantly in the back of your head. What's going to happen if we go out? Are we going to see something happen, or is something going to happen?" - Hollie
I think that we should be allowed abortions here, because it is a woman's choice. You know what I mean? Things happen that aren't always planned. Like rape happens. Obviously, you should take responsibility, being young, but sometimes people aren't educated enough to know that they have to take the responsibility and do not have the option to have an abortion. Especially when the rest of the UK and the south of Ireland, they have the option to go and have an abortion, but here we don't. I don't think it's right." - Bláithín, Derry, Northern Ireland
"When I came out, I was getting bullied in school. They'd say that I'm a mess and that I shouldn't go out with the same gender and things. It upset me and it knocked my confidence. I just felt like it was right to come out. So, then I just used to everyone that I was straight, even though I wasn't." - Angel
"There's still this idea that women are made for children and that's their only purpose. We're more than that. We contribute to society. We contribute to the economy. We can do just as good as men. I think we shouldn't be discriminated against because of our ability to have a child." - Eliza, Liverpool [Forefront]
"In the Asian community, when you are older you have a role already, it’s set from my parents, 'oh you have to become a doctor, oh you have to become a lawyer, you’ve got to get married'. That’s it, if you don’t do that you are not a good daughter that’s how it is. Well I rebelled, when it came to my GCSEs, I picked PE." - Fathema, Carmarthen
"I was at a fairground in Ammanford and I actually reported homophobic comments towards me and my partner to a PCSO and they said that, 'it wasn't their job to deal with it.'" - Imani, Ammanford
"I think my greatest pleasure is when I get on public transport and people are trying to work out what my gender is. Guys are like, ‘Do I size him up? Or do I fancy her?’ You know, they stare at me for so long. My fear at the moment is going out and a guy thinking that I’m a gay guy and taking a problem that I’m an effeminate man and causing beef because of that. It’s always to do with femininity and the idea that being feminine is weak." - Sukey, London
"I do feel like the media does have an effect on young people, because it is something that you spend a lot of time doing. You spend hours every day on social media, and stuff like that, and on Instagram, there's all these bikini models, and stuff like that, and they are perceived in a really, sort of, sexual way. I think that's really strange. And especially women going on hen dos and they dress as school girls. I think that's really weird that people think that's normal." - Pixie
“I think that we should be able to vote at 16. The huge effect that the decisions made now have on our future. Things like Brexit won’t affect someone who is actually voting for it in certain situations. If someone is quite old and they are voting for Brexit, it won’t affect them as much as it will affect me, and I have no say on what happens. When I go to university and when all this stuff happens, it will affect my growing up and my money, my ability to work. I think we should have a say in what happens.” - Macey, Birmingham.
