Sexual Harassment in Schools
Nan Stein, Ph.D.
National Violence Against Women Prevention Research Center
Wellesley Centers for Women, Wellesely College Stone Center
What
is sexual harassment in schools?
Sexual harassment
in schools is unwanted and unwelcome behavior of a sexual nature that
interferes with the right to receive an equal educational opportunity.
It is a form of sex discrimination that is prohibited by Title IX, a Federal
law establishing civil rights in education that addresses issues of sex
discrimination and, by judicial precedent, sexual harassment. Sexually
harassing behaviors that can interfere with one’s educational opportunity
range from words (written and spoken) and gestures to unwanted physical
contact. Some of the behaviors may also be criminal acts (assault and
rape, attempted or completed and child sexual abuse).
Both the Federal
courts and the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the United States Department
of Education (ED) recognize two forms of unlawful sexual harassment in
education. The first form is quid pro quo harassment as defined by the
guidance in the "Federal Register," issued on March 13, 1997, by the OCR
(ED, 1997). Quid pro quo harassment occurs when a school employee explicitly
or implicitly conditions a student’s participation in an education program
or activity or bases an educational decision on the student’s submission
to unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or other verbal,
nonverbal, or physical conduct of a sexual nature. Quid pro quo harassment
is equally unlawful whether the student resists and suffers the threatened
harm or submits and thus avoids the threatened harm (ED, 1997).
The
second recognized form of sexual harassment in schools is hostile-environment
harassment. Hostile-environment harassment includes unwelcome sexual advances,
requests for sexual favors, and other verbal, nonverbal, or physical conduct
of a sexual nature by an employee, another student, or a third party.
This form of harassment requires that the harassing behavior be sufficiently
severe, persistent, or pervasive so as to limit a student’s ability to
participate in or benefit from an educational program or activity, or
to create a hostile or abusive educational environment (ED, 1997). Typically,
in school settings and particularly between students, allegations of hostile-environment
harassment are more commonplace than allegations of quid pro quo harassment.
How
common is sexual harassment in schools?
Hostile
Hallways, released in June 1993, was based on a survey conducted by
Louis Harris and Associates, Inc., in partnership with Scholastic, Inc.,
with funding from the American Association of University Women Foundation.
The national probability sample of schools and students is generalizable
to all public school students in the 8th through 11th grade at the 95
percent confidence level, with a margin of error of ± .04 (AAUW, 1993,
p. 5). This rigorous survey firmly established that there was a universal
culture of sexual harassment with no significant
racial differences flourishing in America’s secondary schools.
Hostile
Hallways randomly sampled 1,632 boys and girls (828 boys and 779 girls)
in grades 8–11 in 79 public schools; classes and grades were also randomly
selected within the schools. A random sample of schools was selected from
the database of public schools at the National Center for Education Statistics
with a proportionally drawn sample by grade and regional location. African-American
and Hispanic students were over-sampled. The sample was 15% African American,
including 120 African-American females and 138 African-American males,
and 9% Hispanic, including 70 Hispanic females and 78 Hispanic males.
According
to Hostile Hallways, 83% of the girls and 60% of the boys reported
experiencing sexual harassment in school.
A
similar study, conducted in Connecticut during the 1993-94 school year
and released in January 1995, surveyed 547 public high school students
in grades 10 through 12 . (In Our Own Backyard: Sexual Harassment in
Connecticut's Public High Schools, Permanent Commission on the Status
of Women, 1995)
The
representative sample of students from seven school districts selected
by the Connecticut Department of Education included 308 females, 235 males,
and 4 students who did not indicate their gender. Participating school
districts were judged to be representative of the socioeconomic status
and age of students throughout the State. The sample was 78% Caucasian,
8% African American, 6% Latino, 4% Asian, and 4% other or unidentified.
No age range was provided in the report.
Seventy-eight
percent of students reported experiencing at least one incident of sexual
harassment since starting high school, including 92% of the females and
57% of the males (Carlson, 1995; Potopowitz, 1995). Female students reported,
on average, a higher number of incidents of unwanted behavior (since they
started high school) than male students (4.5 incidents for girls and 1.6
for boys).What types of school sexual harassment are most common?
According
to the AAUW survey these are the most frequently types of sexual harassment
experienced in school in grades 8–11:
Types of Sexual Harassment Experienced: |
Girls
|
Boys
|
sexual comments, jokes, gestures,
or looks |
76%
|
56%
|
Touched, grabbed, or pinched
in a sexual way |
65%
|
42%
|
Intentionally brushed up against
in a sexual way |
57%
|
36%
|
flashed or mooned |
49%
|
41%
|
had sexual rumors spread about
them |
42%
|
34%
|
had clothing pulled at in a
sexual manner |
38%
|
28%
|
The
Connecticut survey results were similar:
Types of Sexual Harassment Experienced: |
Girls
|
Boys
|
sexual comments about parts
of your body; what type of sex you’d be good at; your clothing; or
your looks |
67%
|
26%
|
Unwanted touching, pinching
or grabbing |
65%
|
325
|
Suggestive sexual gestures or
looks, such as howling, whistling, or suggestive lip licking |
53%
|
13%
|
leaned over; cornered, or blocked
from moving; or followed too closely in a sexual way |
47%
|
10%
|
been told unwanted offensive
sexual jokes |
40%
|
17%
|
been the victim of sexual rumors
spread about (you) |
37%
|
18%
|
had your bra snapped |
49%
|
NA
|
Where
does sexual harassment occur?
Of
the 81 percent of the students in the AAUW survey who reported experiencing
sexual harassment in school and the 52% of students in the Connecticut study
who gave information on the most upsetting incident of sexual harassment
that they had experienced these were the reported locations of the harassment:
Locations Sexual Harassment Occurred: |
AAUW survey
|
Connecticut survey
|
in the hall |
66%
|
62%
|
in the classroom |
55%
|
44%
|
outside of school, on school
grounds (other than the parking lot) |
43%
|
NA
|
in the gymnasium, on the playing
field, or pool area |
39%
|
21%
|
in the cafeteria |
34%
|
31%
|
in the school parking lot |
23%
|
NA
|
other places (includes parking
lot, school grounds, etc.) |
NA
|
50%
|
It’s
important to note that two-thirds of the incidents reported in both studies
occurred in public.
Who
is doing the harassing?
The
AAUW study reports that 18% of the students who have been harassed were
harassed by a school employee and 70% have been targeted by another student.
Harassers included:
Who the Harassers Are: |
Girls
|
Boys
|
a member of the opposite sex
acting alone |
81%
|
57%
|
a group of members of the opposite
sex |
57%
|
35%
|
a mixed group of males and female
|
11%
|
13%
|
a single member of the same
sex |
10%
|
25%
|
a group of members of the same
sex |
3%
|
14%
|
Two-thirds
(66%) of all boys and more than half (52%) of all girls admitted that they
had sexually harassed someone in a school setting.
According
to the Connecticut study, the perpetrator of the most upsetting incident
of sexual harassment was a single person in 57% of the incidents, though
24% of the students indicated that a group caused the most upsetting behavior.
The perpetrator was identified as:
An acquaintance |
35%
|
a friend |
33%
|
a boyfriend/girlfriend |
12%
|
a stranger |
9%
|
a teacher, coach or other staff member |
3.5%
|
Seventy
five percent of the people responsible for the most upsetting behavior were
male, and 25% were female. In 16% of the reports on all sexual harassment
experience at school, the individual was the same sex as the student reporting
and in 91% the harasser was not of the same sex as the victim.At what grade
level does sexual harassment start?
Hostile
Hallways (AAUW, 1993) reports that a student’s first experience of sexual
harassment is most likely to occur between 6th to 9th
grade, with 7th grade being the most common: 40% of boys and
54% of girls who have been harassed fall into this group. 34% of girls and
32% of boys were first harassed before 7th grade. 42% of African
American girls and 40% of Hispanic girls have been sexual harassed, compared
with 31% of white girls.
What
recourses do victims of school sexual harassment have?
If
a student is a victim of sexual harassment s/he, a parent or other individual
should contact a teacher or school administrator to file a complaint. If
the school fails to take action to remedy
the situation, a student should make his/her complaint known to the school
district. If satisfactory action is still not taken, a student may file
a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights
and/or turn to the federal courts.
What
responsibility do schools have to end and/or prevent sexual harassment?
According
to the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights’ guidelines,
schools are required by the Title IX regulations to adopt and publish grievance
procedures providing for prompt and equitable resolution of all sex discrimination
complaints, including complaints of sexual harassment. Students should be
notified of the procedures which should be written in language appropriate
to the age of the school's students. Without a widely understood grievance
procedure in place, a school (or school district) is held liable regardless
of whether or not sexual harassment has occurred.
A
school that does have a grievance procedure is liable for any conduct of
its students that creates a sexually hostile environment where (a) the school
knows (or should have know) of the harassment, and (b) the school fails
to take immediate and appropriate steps to remedy it.
Sources
American
Association of University Women. (1993). Hostile hallways: The AAUW
survey
on sexual harassment in America's schools. Washington, DC: Author.
Permanent
Commission (CT) on the Status of Women (1995). In our own backyard: Sexual
harassment
in Connecticut’s public high schools. Hartford, CT: Author.
Stein,
N. (1999) Classrooms and courtrooms: Facing sexual harassment in K-12
schools. New
York, NY; Teacher’s College Press, Columbia University.
U.S.
Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (1997) Sexual harassment:
It’s not academic. Washington, D.C.; Author. (also available at http://www.ed.gov/offices/OCR/ocrshpam.html)
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