My daughter was on the bus home when a boy at her school began making rude gestures towards her.

Elodie told me he was egged on by his friends, who were all laughing about it. I was horrified when I heard about this – and that was just the start. 

She was just 12 when she first experienced public sexual harassment.  

Now aged 16, Elodie has told me something like this happens regularly, around once a month, and she worries about being harassed and humiliated almost every time she goes out. 

As her dad, this is heartbreaking to hear.

That’s why I’m incredibly pleased that the government has brought into force a law that sexual harassment in public will be considered a specific offence.

But my main concern is still raising awareness. Without this, harassment will still happen and the impact on the victim will still be felt.

I hope new laws like this can put these issues forefront in the minds of the public.

Before having a daughter, I admit I was completely oblivious to this problem.

Yes, I’d always felt some of the things I heard men say to girls and women were unacceptable. But what I see now really scares me – the nastiness and abusive comments are not ‘banter’, they’re controlling and hurtful. There is a real intention to cause harm behind these words. 

This Is Not Right

On November 25, 2024 Metro launched This Is Not Right, a campaign to address the relentless epidemic of violence against women.

With the help of our partners at Women’s Aid, This Is Not Right aims to shine a light on the sheer scale of this national emergency.

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So many men I speak to when discussing Elodie’s experiences, like friends and family members, are shocked when I tell them what is ‘acceptable’ within the law, like making sexually explicit comments or sexually propositioning someone in public.

They think about their wives and daughters, and cannot believe so much harmful behaviour is legal, particularly when these same behaviours are specifically banned in the workplace through the Equality Act. 

And what is more devastating is that Elodie is not alone. Research from Plan International UK found 75% of girls, some as young as 12, in the UK have experienced some form of public sexual harassment.

For some girls, this is a daily occurrence that affects their walk to school, where they exercise and where they spend time with their friends. Some have even avoided school altogether. 

I worry about Elodie experiencing public sexual harassment all the time: my fear is she’s at risk of assault, or even abduction, when walking alone. She shares my concern that a comment could quickly escalate. 

When Elodie is planning to go out, I have a real mental battle with myself. Should I raise the subject of staying safe and put this issue on the table, or leave it and hope nothing happens?

Elodie is a very level-headed young woman and I trust she is aware of the risks, so I don’t want to limit her life experiences by raising my own fears. But, of course, that doesn’t mean that I don’t sit and watch both the clock and the phone when she is away from home. 

My anxiety increases later in the day – evenings are particularly bad because I fear she could be assaulted after dark, and winter is worse again as everyone is bundled up and less aware of what’s going on around them.  

I also really worry when she’s on public transport. Anyone could sit next to her and touch her inappropriately or prevent her getting off at her stop, and my wife and I wouldn’t know until it’s too late. That fills me with dread and it’s so easy to see it happening.  

We often pick Elodie up when she’s been out and always check she doesn’t walk home on her own. We’ve also all agreed to use an app on her phone so we can check where she is.

But it’s a tough balancing act – she’s a young woman and we want to give her freedom. We don’t want her to feel she’s being watched all the time by her parents, and we also don’t want to worry ourselves silly as that isn’t healthy for us or Elodie. 

Despite my fears, I try my best to reassure my daughter. Until today, there was no single piece of legislation to protect girls and women from public sexual harassment. 

It was a law that my Elodie had a part in, and I’m so proud of my daughter and the fact she has been involved in something that will make such an important difference to girls across the country. She feels empowered by how her hard work and commitment to this issue is starting to pay off. 

. We need to do everything we can to help create a society where this kind of behaviour is seen by everyone for what it is: harmful and unacceptable.

As parents, we have a crucial role to play in educating both boys and girls that this kind of behaviour, far from being harmless or even a way of complimenting a girl, is always wrong. 

Men also need to model good behaviour for their sons and grandsons, as well as calling out friends or colleagues if they see them sexually harassing someone.

This has really changed how I behave when I’m out too: I’ll often try to walk in front of a woman so she can see me, instead of hearing me behind her and potentially worrying about who is there. 

No-one should feel uncomfortable going about their daily life and the long-term psychological impact on girls is severe, let alone any physical threats they may also face. All I want is for Elodie – and all girls in the UK – to feel safe. I don’t think that’s too much to ask. 

A version of this piece was published in April 2023

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Ross.Mccafferty@metro.co.uk. 

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Emma Henson had her leg amputated at the age of one because of a rare condition that made her right leg swell to twice the size of her left leg

A Peterborough woman with one foot is searching for a fellow amputee to share shoes with – so two bin bags full of unwanted right shoes don’t go to waste. Emma Henson, 20, has a rare condition called Klippel-Trenaunay syndrome (KTS).

When she was born, her right leg had swelled to double the size of her left one. When Emma turned one, her parents made the decision to have the leg amputated, as she would never be able to walk on it.

Her leg causes her too much pain to wear a prosthetic, so Emma only ever needs to wear one shoe as she uses crutches or a wheelchair to get around. She said that throughout her life, she has struggled to find companies that will sell her a single shoe, leaving her feeling as though she is not accepted.

She is now searching for a left foot amputee, who is a size six shoe, with whom she can share pairs of shoes. Emma, who originally shared her story with Talk To The Press, said: “My leg is constantly swelling and getting infected, so wearing a prosthetic is so painful and makes me bleed.

“I’ve got a whole bin bag, if not two at home, full of right foot shoes. I would love to find a left leg amputee who is also a UK size six so that we could share shoes.

“I’ve tried to give my odd shoes to charities, to help other amputees, but nowhere will accept them. It makes me feel not accepted in the world. I was born like this, I didn’t choose it.”

KTS is a rare congenital condition with symptoms including port-wine stain birthmarks, varicose veins, and limb overgrowth. When she was one, doctors told her parents that they could either choose to have the leg amputated from the knee down, or that she would be in a wheelchair forever.

She said she has emailed countless shoe companies but is always told that she will have to just buy a pair of shoes. She added that she doesn’t think it’s fair that she has to fork out for two shoes, when one will just end up in the back of her wardrobe.

Emma said: “A pair of shoes sometimes costs £150, and I can’t afford that if one of them is just going to sit in the wardrobe. I think companies should give you the option of just buying one shoe, and paying half price for it.

“It would make companies look good, and make everyone feel included. There’s probably a lot of people out there who are having the same issue as me, and it’s so unfair that one shoe just goes to waste.”

She feels that there must be many people like her in the same predicament, so is searching for someone, not only to share shoes with, but also to relate to.

Emma said: “One of my goals is to find someone out there who is like me to talk to about our similarities and help make each other feel better about ourselves.”

Juliette Kenny, 18, died just one day after first showing symptoms

The father of a teenager who tragically passed away in Kent following a meningitis outbreak has shared the family’s profound heartbreak over their loss.

Juliette Kenny passed away on Saturday, 14 March, just one day after first exhibiting symptoms. Now, the family of the 18 year old is advocating for improved protection for young individuals.

Michael Kenny, Juliette’s father, has spoken about the grief his family is grappling with, stating that his daughter had been “fit, healthy and strong” prior to her untimely death. She had completed the practical assessment for her PE A-level on Thursday, 12 March – and just a day later, was displaying symptoms including vomiting, and discolouration in her cheeks.

Juliette, who was described by her father as possessing a “beautifully positive energy”, is one of two students who have sadly died following the outbreak of meningitis B in the county. Mr Kenny expressed that “no family should experience this pain and tragedy” and that “this can be avoided”, adding that he wanted his daughter’s legacy to be “lasting change”.

This comes as more than 100 students in Kent were turned away whilst attempting to get a meningitis vaccine after officials closed the queue on Thursday, reports Belfast Live.

In a statement to the Press Association, Mr Kenny said: “We are incredibly proud parents to two wonderful daughters. Juliette is a force in this world. With her beautifully positive energy she spread fun, love and happiness to those around her and she continues to do so now.

“The devastation of her loss to us, her family and friends is immeasurable. Sharing stories of the empathy, warmth and fun that she created is helping her family and friends through at this time. Her energy continues to make the people who love her find a way.

“The illness took her from us so quickly.”

Mr Kenny explained he first realised his daughter was unwell when she was sick during the early hours of Friday, March 13. Juliette, a year 13 pupil at Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School in Faversham, showed no other signs at that point, he added.

“In the morning on Friday, she was taken, by us, to our local emergency drop-in as a discolouration appeared on her cheeks,” Mr Kenny said.

“She was given antibiotics and sent by ambulance to A&E. Juliette fought bravely for hours, but despite the fantastic NHS hospital staff fighting alongside her, meningitis took her from us less than 12 hours later.

“We were with her at the end, and the last sounds that she heard were the voices of those who loved her telling her how very much loved and cherished she is.”

Together with the Meningitis Research Foundation, Mr Kenny and his family are urging the UK to take immediate action to improve access to the menB vaccination for teenagers and young people.

“No family should experience this pain and tragedy,” he said.

“This can be avoided. There are young people currently battling this and young people still at risk.

“As parents, we knew our children would change the world and be a force for good. The work to protect young people has started. It needs to be more.

“Juliette’s impact on this world must be lasting change. Now is the time to ensure families are safe from the impact of meningitis B.”

Vinny Smith, chief executive of Meningitis Research Foundation, stated that in 2015 the charity’s calls for the menB vaccination to be “routinely available” on the NHS for all at-risk age groups was “not taken forward” as it was “judged not to be cost-effective”. The menB jab was introduced on the NHS for babies in 2015, meaning the majority of young people born before then are not protected against it unless they have had the jab privately.

The Kenny family were not aware that the vaccination is not routinely available on the NHS for teenagers and young adults, and that to have this they would need to pay for it privately. Mr Smith urged the Government to “decide now to save lives” and highlighted menB’s “lifelong impact”, including disabilities caused by the bug.

He said: “When we made the case for menB vaccination to be routinely available on the NHS in 2015 for all at-risk age groups, wider protection for teenagers and young adults was not taken forward (it was judged to not be cost-effective within the criteria used at the time). Our concern, then and now, is that this has not fully reflected the impact of menB or the full value protection from a vaccine brings.

“It hasn’t accounted for the severity of meningitis, its lifelong impact, or the trauma and bereavement experienced by families. People across the country will have seen that impact this week; we believe the UK Government can decide now to save lives and limit the lifelong disabilities caused by meningitis, protecting people for generations to come.”

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) reported that as of 5pm on Wednesday, 15 cases of meningitis have been confirmed and an additional 12 are under investigation. This brings the total to 27 cases of either confirmed or suspected meningitis, up from 20 on Wednesday.

At present, nine of the 15 confirmed cases are known to be caused by menB. On Thursday, 40 MPs signed a letter addressed to the Health Secretary urging the Government and health officials to collaborate with universities nationwide on catch-up vaccination programmes, and to enhance awareness.

The letter also stated that the joint committee on vaccination and immunisation (JCVI) review of eligibility for meningitis vaccines should be conducted swiftly. As of Thursday, the vaccine programme in Kent has been extended to anyone who attended the Club Chemistry venue from March 5 to March 15, year 12 and 13 pupils at affected schools, students and staff at the University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church university, and close contacts of confirmed or suspected cases.

Following her son’s third round of baby vaccinations, Zoe Nichols felt helpless as she listened to his endless cries. Even though the little boy had been given the suggested doses of Calpol, he just wouldn’t settle. 

‘He was just crying and crying,’ Zoe, 39, tells Metro.

She wanted to stay with him following the vaccinations, but Zoe had compulsory training at work the next day, so that afternoon the beauty therapist bundled her baby into the car to take him to his grandparents, a two-hour drive away. 

‘For the whole journey, he mainly slept – he loved being in the car,’ Zoe remembers. 

After dropping her son off with his grandparents, she made the two-hour drive back to Dorset, only to receive a worrying phone call as soon as she walked through the door at around 11pm.

‘His grandparents were saying that he wasn’t right – he wouldn’t stop crying, and he had a fever that wasn’t coming down with medicine,’ Zoe remembers. ‘They were going to take him to the hospital.’

The doctors tried to reassure the family that it was probably just a common virus, but Zoe couldn’t help but feel eaten up with ‘mum guilt’, because she couldn’t do anything to help. Eventually, her son was put on a drip for the night and, as she tried to sleep, Zoe kept her phone close by in case of an update.  

Thankfully, the next morning, she received a smiling photo of her baby, who was all back to normal.

As a child, Zoe remembers having all her vaccines, and yet, at 15, she still got measles. She says that two years later, at beauty college, half of her class — some who had been vaccinated and some who hadn’t — were off with mumps. 

The experience always made her question the point of vaccinations and whether they actually worked, she says. So when Zoe became pregnant at 31, she started to think about what she should do for her baby. 

At her NCT class, she remembers being urged by the leading midwife to give children whatever vaccines are offered by the NHS. ‘You take all the information that you’re given as gospel,’ Zoe explains. ‘But all pros and cons should be made available.’ 

Although a couple of acquaintances had said there were ‘lots of warnings on side effects’ when it came to jabs, she eventually decided to go along with NHS guidelines and booked the MMR vaccinations for her baby. 

While her son’s eight and 12-week jabs were uneventful – he had just a mild fever manageable with Calpol – it was the 16-week shots that Zoe believes landed her baby in hospital. 

‘I  thought that it came and went too quickly to be a virus,’ she says.

Just before he turned one, it was then suggested that her little boy have a Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine to protect him from picking up tuberculosis from abroad, as his father’s family from India often visited. Again, Zoe did what the doctors recommended.

‘But the vaccine injection site got scabby and pussy. It took ages for his skin to heal, and he still has a big scar from it,’ she says, adding that it was the last straw for her.  ‘I wasn’t going to put him through that anymore.’

Since then, Zoe’s son hasn’t had any of the vaccines offered through the NHS to children, at one year, 18 months, three years, flu, or Covid vaccines. 

‘I’m not a scientist, but I know what happened for me and mine,’ she says. ‘I don’t want to look at stats and figures, because those can be easily manipulated by pharmaceutical companies.’

But her choice has raised eyebrows, with several healthcare professionals and acquaintances warning the mum that she should ‘protect’ her little boy by getting him vaccinated.

Zoe remembers one occasion in early spring 2023, when her son was rushed to the A&E because he couldn’t breathe at nursery. 

‘Initially, I was asked if he had received all his jabs. When I replied no, the nurse gave me a look as if I had sneezed in her face,’ she claims. ‘She then told the doctor with an attitude, and acted as if I hadn’t fed him for a week or had committed some other form of neglect.’

The toddler ended up being diagnosed as having both enterovirus and rhinovirus and recovered within days. 

Zoe insists that she feels cautious when anyone pushes her into making a decision, not just whether it involves vaccinating her son. Anyone quick to judge anti-vaxxers, she’d like to know the ‘primary experience’ that led them to think the way they do. 

‘Why are they so for vaccines?’ Zoe asks. ‘My child was in the hospital overnight directly after having had a vaccine. That’s why I’m against it. My primary experience has led to my decision.’

News that measles cases have been found in the UK doesn’t scare Zoe, either. In fact, what frightens her is thinking about the children who do get vaccinations and what they are having put into their bodies.

She wonders why we question what is in our food and water, but don’t ask what the vaccines are, and the harmful impacts that they could have on adults and children.

‘I think there are pros and cons to everything,’ she says.

Zoe believes that if her child did get measles, he would get ill and then get better, just like she did when she had measles at 15.  However, recent statistics have shown that measles is on the rise across Europe, with nearly 130,000 people contracting it last year, double the number in 2023 and the highest rate since 1997. Last June, a child from Liverpool died from contracting the disease, while London is currently seeing a fast-spreading outbreak infect dozens of schoolchildren.

While Zoe acknowledges the pain families who have lost children due to measles must feel, her personal experiences mean she will not sway her decision. Instead, she asks: ‘Why in 30 years has nobody managed to find a cure for when you actually have measles?’

The mum insists she doesn’t throw caution to the wind either, but takes precautions to keep herself, her child, and the people around her safe from any virus. When her son comes home from playdates and school, or is about to eat a meal, Zoe makes sure he washes his hands. 

‘In my opinion, there are better ways to stop disease spreading than vaccinating people,’ she explains. ‘It can just start with safe measures like washing your hands or using a bit of sanitiser. If clients are under the weather, I don’t see them, and I wear a mask during my treatments.

‘I just don’t feel that mass medication will help. If you look after your body and your mind, I really don’t think you need a vaccine.’ 

Zoe is also keen to guide her son away from injections until he can make a fully educated decision for himself. 

‘I’m not a radical conspiracy theorist,’ she insists. ‘I’m just being mindful and conscious. It’s my choice and I don’t want myself or my child to be an experiment.’

A version of this article was first published in October 2025.

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One day in 2023, I was scrutinising my body in a full-length mirror.

I did this a lot, this tearful ritual of self-flagellation – but this time, I noticed something that had never been there before.

Cellulite, dappled along the backs of my thighs.

The tears started flowing, as they often did. I wasn’t crying with horror, though, but with happiness.

Two years before, I had come out as transgender. Ever since starting Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), I’d been experiencing a rollercoaster of emotions trying to reconcile my outer appearance with my inner sense of self – but seeing the cellulite on my thighs was a moment of sheer catharsis.

I finally felt at home in my body.

I knew all the messages sold to women and girls: that cellulite is unattractive and undesirable, that it should be eliminated. And yet, standing in front of the mirror, I didn’t feel any of the shame women are taught to feel.

Instead, I felt overjoyed and proud to be experiencing something that so many women experience.

In short, I felt gender euphoria.

But I certainly haven’t always felt this way – far from it.

My relationship with my body has always been complicated. As a child, I struggled with comfort eating and ended up overweight. Since then, I’ve dealt with persistent issues of body image.

Growing up, the mirror was my great enemy; it was the cudgel I used to punish myself for my (imagined) inadequacies.

This is an experience I share with lots of women – except that I first spent years of my life as a man.

I had always felt a sense of dissonance between how the world perceived me and how I perceived myself, and in puberty those issues only worsened. With each change I experienced – every new hair that sprouted on my body, every inch my shoulders grew – the gulf between the burgeoning woman I felt myself to be and the reality of my reflection widened.

Looking in the mirror felt like staring at a stranger.

Over the years, gender dysphoria manifested itself subtly in me, as a nebulous feeling of absence. I didn’t have any exposure to the trans experience so I didn’t have language that would help me describe that painful feeling of something missing.

But I felt disconnected from myself, and for years I couldn’t understand why.

When I interacted with the world outside my room, I struggled to understand the expectations ascribed to boys and men. When strangers called me ‘Sir’, I often asked myself who they could be talking to.

I spent years as a passive observer in my own life – and, consequently, spent decades dealing with persistent depression.

I truly felt as though nothing mattered. I had no investment in my own life.

Even when I came out as transgender in February 2021, aged 30, I remained in front of the mirror – because coming out only served to further complicate my relationship with my reflection.

I’d always been prone to negative self-comparison; but, while I was transitioning, this grew to include the impossible standards of feminine beauty levied upon women. ‘Your waist must be small, but not too small.’ ‘You must not have visible body hair.’ ‘You must sound, look, and act a certain way.’

I spent countless hours studying all the ways my body failed to meet the ideals of feminine beauty. I was ‘too fat’, ‘too broad’, ‘too masculine’.

It all left me feeling emotionally exhausted, depleted, and hopeless, and the irony – that comparing yourself unfavourably to other women is a common experience of womanhood – was lost on me.

I started HRT in June 2021 with the aim of raising my progesterone and oestrogen levels, and reducing my testosterone. Over the next few years, HRT slowly began to change my body in a myriad of ways – some expected, and others less so.

The redistribution of body fat, the softening of my features, the thickening of my hair.

These things came too slowly to notice any change from one day to the next, and I still contended with my reflection daily, continuing to find ways to compare myself negatively to others.

It was on one of these days, years into my treatment, that I first noticed the cellulite rippling down the backs of my thighs and cried.

I’d spent my life in a prison; now here I was, crying with joy over something many women have been taught to hate about themselves.

To me, the appearance of cellulite wasn’t some omen of undesirability. It was evidence that I was moving closer to a body I felt at home in.

And in that moment, I recognised the beauty in my experience as a trans person.

I may have lost the ease of navigating the world as the gender I was assigned at birth – but I had also gained so much. I’d been afforded the chance to know myself intimately, to become who I always was; and I could experience the feeling of watching my body slowly change into something that didn’t hurt so much to see.

I didn’t always know when I was suffering through gender dysphoria, but I certainly knew when I’d found relief from it. It was like I’d cast off a weight, and in place of that weight was gender euphoria. A storm of butterflies in my stomach. A smile that nearly broke my jaw.

Happiness. Bliss. Relief.

It’s been two and a half years since that day, and I cannot say my gender dysphoria is cured. If you’ve lived with body dysmorphia, you understand that your self-image can fluctuate from day to day.

I’ve heard it said by cis women over and over again – both on social media and in my day to day discussions with friends – that their trans sisters give them new perspectives on womanhood. 

That knowing and loving trans women helps them find new ways to appreciate the many joys of their gender, to divorce themselves from the insecurities packaged and sold to them as products.

And so my hope is that, in hearing my joy, in knowing my freedom, you can experience it for yourself. 

Perhaps the next time you look in the mirror and see the cellulite on your thighs, you’ll remember my story and the elation I felt; my hope is that you can learn to see it not as a burden but a bounty, and a reminder that it is a beautiful reflection of your womanhood staring unapologetically back at you.

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jessica.aureli@metro.co.uk. 

Share your views in the comments below.

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