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The intent of sexual harassment is to demean, embarrass, humiliate or control another person on the basis of their gender or sexual orientation (Boland, 1995). Most of the literature on sexual harassment has focused on women in the workplace or university students with their relevance to girls and young women left unclear (CRI-VIFF, 1999). As with dating violence, it took some time to acknowledge that girls and young women experience such abuse long before reaching university or college. Sexual harassment is an all too familiar part of the everyday experience in the lives of girls and young women. Berman and colleagues (2002) characterize sexual harassment as one of the most omnipresent and rampant forms of gender-based violence, which many girls face daily. Either adults or peers may sexually harass youth, although peer harassment is most common. The school is but one setting in which sexual harassment occurs. The family, neighbourhood and, now, the Internet are contexts in which sexual harassment occurs. Student-to-student sexual harassment was recognized in the early 1990s as a ‘possible’ school problem that may be impacting the learning environment for female students. Early studies in Quebec by the Quebec Federation of Teachers (CEQ, 1984 cited in CRI-VIFF, 1999) suggest that our perception of student-to-student harassment in school changes over time. Until girls are about age 10, we see them as being teased and bullied by boys (e.g., have their skirts lifted, tripped, threatened, punched), but we are more likely to label such experiences as sexual harassment when the girls are older than 10 years. This perception is coloured by the sexually charged nature of relationships between girls and boys as they reach the teen years. Studies of the experiences of students have established sexual harassment as a pervasive and persistent form of violence experienced often on a daily basis for the majority of girls and young women. For example, the 1994 study by the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) found that over 80% of the more than 150 young women (45% of boys) surveyed had been sexually harassed by another student and 20% by school staff (1% of boys). The range of sexual harassment reported within a school setting was extensive: sexual comments, jokes gestures or looks (80% of responses); touched, grabbed or pinched in a sexual way (60%); negative comments made about your gender (54%); had sexual rumours spread about you (48%); intentionally brushed up against in a sexual way (39%); had your way blocked in a sexual way (24%); shown, given or left sexual pictures, photographs, illustrations, messages, or notes (23%); called gay or lesbian (22%); had clothing pulled in a sexual way (21%); flashed or mooned (19%); had clothing pulled off or down (10%); forced to kiss someone (11%); had sexual messages written about you on public walls (10%); forced to do something sexual other than kissing (9%); spied on while dressing or showering (6%). In all cases except one (being spied on), girls were at least twice as likely to report experiencing the sexual harassment as boys. Girls reported more serious and negative impacts on their school performance than did the boys, such as difficulty concentrating, fear, ill at ease, lowered self-esteem and lower grades. These results parallel those of major and national studies in the United States (see Kopels & Dupper, 1999). Too often sexual harassment is viewed by students, staff and parents as just part of life … no big deal! Denial, dismissal, minimization have all been used by the general public to mask the reality as reported above. What We Know About School-based Sexual Harassment Prevention The 1990s was to school-based sexual harassment prevention as the 1970s was for sexual abuse prevention — a time of recognition and development. Some of these program developers acknowledge sexual and other forms of harassment as extensions of teasing and bullying behaviours and preludes to teen dating violence and woman abuse in adult years (Stein, 1995). Sexual harassment has been characterized as the gateway or training ground for children and youth into legitimating and normalizing the domination and violation of females by males and the submission of females to this victimization (Berman et al., 2002), that is, gender inequality becomes articulated, reinforced and firmly established. The message to girls is that they are of lesser value and hold a subordinate position in the grand scheme of a male dominated social system (Alliance of Five Research Centres on Violence, 1999). Fundamentals that have been suggested for a comprehensive approach to eliminating sexual harassment include:
Program Objectives: Prevention programs that specifically address sexual harassment start as early as grade 5 and as late as highschool, although the majority is offered to older students. Some programs that primarily concentrate on dating violence and bullying also include components on sexual harassment prevention. The objectives in sexual harassment programs are fairly consistent: to increase knowledge of what sexual harassment is, how it impacts individuals and the school community, the attitudes and dynamics that support this form of violence and strategies to deal with it when it occurs. There is also some attention to school-wide plans to change aspects of school culture that supports, overtly or covertly, violence in its many forms. This objective reflects the understanding that the school environment is a mirror image of society with the attitudes or norms that prop up violence spills over (CRI-VIFF, 1999). Program Content: A major component of sexual harassment prevention is addressing the thoughts and attitudes held by many students about harassment. More accurate definitions of sexual harassment help students understand the broad scope of behaviours that fall within this form of violence. School and School Board policies and procedures are often reviewed, as well as examining legal and civil rights perspectives. However, the prime focus of these programs is on the dynamics of interpersonal relationships, sex roles, sex-role stereotyping, equality, dual discrimination, and sexual violence. Senior high school students go further, also exploring types of relationships, conflict, communication skills, how attitudes influence relationships, personal choices, sexual exploitation, peer group influences, expressing affection, and the myths and realities of sexual harassment. Presentation Methods: Students participate in a variety of interactive and didactic learning methodologies in sexual harassment prevention classes. Role-plays, videotaped scenarios, large and small group discussions, lectures and seminars, and written questionnaires to uncover underlying attitudes and myths, as well as experiences of victimization and perpetration of sexual harassment are utilized in education endeavours. Teacher Training: Teachers need to be sensitized to peer and staff-student sexual harassment as an all too common feature in the lives of the girls and young women. Incidents of peer sexual harassment most often (90%) take place in the hallways outside classrooms (OSSTF, 1994), and are frequently witnessed by teachers (Stein, 1995). Until teachers and other school staff recognize and confirm such behaviours as sexual harassment, it will remain a pervasive problem. In-service training is usually offered to teachers to heighten their awareness of sexual harassment and how to respond to the problem. Parent Involvement: Some sexual harassment prevention programs provide letters to parents about the curriculum; however, no programs suggest offering parent information meetings or other ways to educate parents about this problem and its prevalence for so many children and youth. Do They Work? Few sexual harassment prevention programs have been evaluated, so we do not yet know what works and what does not. Alliance of Five Research Centres on Violence (1999). Violence prevention and the girl child: Final report. London, ON: Author. Berman, H., Straatman, A., Hunt, K., Izumi, J., & MacQuarrie, B. (2002). Sexual harassment: The unacknowledged face of violence in the lives of girls. In H. Berman and Y. Jiwani (Eds.), In the best interests of the girl child (pp. 15-44). London, ON: The Alliance of Five Research Centres on Violence. Boland, P. (1995). Gender stereotypes: The links to violence. Newton, MA: WEEA Publishing Center. CRI-VIFF (Centre de Recherche Interdisciplinaire sur la Violence Familiale et la Violence Faite aux Femmes) (1999). Quebec report. In the Alliance of Five Research Centres on Violence (Eds.), Violence prevention and the girl child: Final report (pp. 26-50). London, ON: Alliance of Five Research Centres on Violence. Kopels, S. & Dupper, D.R. (1999). School-based peer sexual harassment. Child Welfare, 78(4), 434-460. OSSTF (Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation) (1994). Student to student sexual harassment: Final report on Phase I. Toronto, ON: Author. Stein, N. (1995). Sexual harassment in school: The public performance of gendered violence. Harvard Educational Review, 65(2), 145-162. |
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This site last updated: 23 September, 2002 Home RESOLVE Alberta
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Sexual
Harassment Among Youth