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Sexual harassment in schools Prevalence, structure and perceptions
... Researches elucidate that sexual harassment can occur in various environments. Young students may attempt to develop "sexualized contact" (Witkowska, 2005) in academic settings and there are equal chances for harassment to occur in offices, public places and even in public transport. ...
... Sexual harassment is not only a problem in female majority environments but also in male majority environments. It's faced by girls and boys students (Witkowska, 2005). Faculty and administrative staff can also fall prey to sexual harassment. ...
... According to Van Dijk's (2000) definition, the discourse on #MeToo is definitely an ideological discourse as it ijel.ccsenet.org International Journal of English Linguistics Vol. 10, No. 1;2020 has a certain structure and schema. It assures their group-ness and being a victim is the membership criteria. ...
The study aims to conduct an analysis of the discourse on #MeToo which the study takes to be the unmediated voice of the victims of sexual harassment to determine the ideology imbibed in the discourse. Teun A. van Dijk’s Ideology and discourse: A multidisciplinary introduction (2000) serves as the theoretical basis for the study as it attempts to categorize what constitutes harassment for the victims by looking at 3000 tweets posted over thirty days. The critical analysis of the data reveals that one of the most lacking elements in the life of the victims of sexual harassment is an acknowledgment of harassment as harassment. Most of the victims are abused, shamed and silenced when they try to share their panic experiences of life. The study shows that sexual harassment is a widespread social epidemic and can occur to a person of any age group, at any place and in any type of relationship. The study is significant as it presents the unmediated view of the victims of sexual harassment and compares it with the existing view of harassment. The significance of the study also lies in the fact that it analyzes the features of Twitter to determine their role in shaping the discourse. Previous studies on harassment talk about the issue or explore its features and types through various angles, but none of them focuses on the voice of the victims themselves.
... Related to student knowledge about Psychological effects of sexual harassment the current study reflects that less than quarter of young female adolescents had total satisfactory knowledge pre educational program about Psychological effects of sexual harassment while changed to most of them with a highly significant difference between pre, post educational program. This finding disagrees with [21] in a study about Perceptions of sexual harassment in Swedish high schools: experiences and school environment problems "sample 500 students" who revealed that the total knowledge of the young students about the psychological consequences of sexual harassment reported highest prevalent was 31% psychological consequences followed by 16.5% physical consequences post guideline program. From the researcher point of view, this may be expected because of the Difference in sample size participants with the researcher. ...
... It is supported by [22] in a study about the Prevalence and correlates of gender-based violence among female university students in Northern Nigeria. African who reported that more than a quarter of the young female adolescents had a total satisfactory knowledge pre educational program [21,22]. ...
... And similar to Meinck et al. [30], in the study about Risk and protective factors for physical and emotional abuse victimization amongst vulnerable children in South Africa. Child Abuse, who reported a significant improvement in knowledge after health education observed [21][22][23]. ...
... In a study, in which behaviours constituting rape were evaluated through a series of seven rape myth statements, the majority of high school students answered five or more questions correctly (Lee, Stark, O'Riordan, & Lazebnik, 2015). In other studies, high school students were able to respond correctly to questions about sexual assault (Daigneault et al., 2015) and sexual harassment (Witkowska, 2005). Ethnicity and sex are variables that proved to have an impact on both negative and positive results. ...
... Ethnicity and sex are variables that proved to have an impact on both negative and positive results. In general, those young people of European heritage have a better knowledge than those from other ethnic backgrounds (Jordan et al., 1998) as well as females when compared to males (Jordan et al., 1998;Lee et al., 2015;Ohnishi et al., 2011;Witkowska, 2005). Higher knowledge among females might be explained by a higher probability of having experienced, witnessed, and been raised to be aware of sexual violence (Breiding et al., 2014;Drennan, Hyde, & Howlett, 2009;Lee et al., 2015;Otwombe et al., 2015). ...
... Young people were characterised as having a high acceptance regarding sexual harassment (Foulis & McCabe, 1997) and as holding stereotypes regarding the justification of sexual coercion in dating situations (Aronowitz et al., 2012;Geiger et al., 2004). Jordan et al. (1998) found more positive results in that a low percentage of juveniles in their study agreed with supportive statements on sexual harassment, and Witkowska (2005) found that Swedish adolescents considered it a problem. Sex, age and ethnicity seem to have an impact on adolescents' attitudes. ...
The aim of the present study was twofold. First, we wanted to quantify the level of knowledge of Swedish young people regarding sexual crime and to evaluate their supportive attitudes, while at the same time we aimed at identifying, through self-report, the sources that most contribute to such knowledge and attitudes. A sample of 245 upper secondary school students was selected from five schools in four Swedish counties. The results indicate that adolescents in Sweden have a high level of knowledge of rape, sexual molestation/harassment, and sexual exploitation of a dependent person. Furthermore, they show non-supportive attitudes to rape, sexual harassment, and sexual crime in general. However, some issues related to these types of crime proved to be confusing to the participants and, therefore, require targeting in education policies, specifically among juvenile males and those born abroad. The results are discussed in the context of the needs for sexual crime prevention.
... The behaviours become normalized in schools, which makes it difficult to identify them as sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is then denied and re-labelled as " everyday rudeness " , or at best as bullying, rather than personal or social injustice (Witkowska, 2005b:13). ...
... Witkowskas och Menckels (2005a) större studie bland gymnasieungdomar fann att tjejer och killar ofta verkar känna sig hotade och nedvärderade av olika slags beteenden. Män tenderar att tolka beteenden som sexuella trakasserier när deras maskulinitet eller dominans i offentliga miljöer hotas, medan kvinnor reagerar mer på beteenden som understryker kvinnlig underordning (Witkowska, 2005b), resultat som går helt i linje med Uggens och Blackstones forskning. ...
... För motsvarande undersökning av gymnasiepojkars upplevelser var resultatet det omvända, bland killar var tillmälen av homofobiskt slag den allra vanligaste formen av sexuella trakasserier (Witkowska, 2005b). Detta visar att trakasserier på grund av sexuell läggning har ett samband med könstillhörighet. ...
... Trakasserierna förklaras med den enskilda förövarens och den utsattas individuella egenskaper, exempelvis att förövaren har sociala problem eller inte kan kommunicera på ett hövligt sätt (Hill & Kearl, 2011;Diskrimineringsombudsmannen, 2012;Gillander Gådin & Ahlgren, 2013;Gillander Gådin & Stein, 2019). Bristande kunskap hos lärare bidrar till att kränkningarna kan fortsätta och att de uppfattas som ett oundvikligt inslag i skolmiljön (Witkowska, 2005;Rahimi & Liston, 2011;Hlavka, 2014). Sexuella trakasserier betraktas och förklaras även som sexuell romantik och att det är pojkars sätt att visa känslor, vilket leder till ytterligare normalisering (Gillander Gådin, 2012). ...
... Camilla (År 6) säger: "Jag tycker man borde göra det innan någonting händer, så att man vet hur man ska reagera". Insikten om betydelsen av ett främjande och förebyggande arbete finns hos skolans personal för att kunna motverka en normalisering av sexuella trakasserier är avgörande (jfr Witkowska, 2005;Rahimi & Liston, 2011;Hlavka, 2014). Karin (År 1 Gy) visar på en möjlighet att skapa en sådan insikt. ...
The aim of the present study is to contribute with knowledge about pupils’ views upon teachers’ teaching regarding the work of counteracting sexual harassment. 28 girls and 22 boys in secondary and upper secondary school were interviewed. The theoretical framework is based on an educational perspective and directed towards teachers’ work against oppression. More specifically it deals with the relationships between teacher and pupil, teacher and the knowledge content as well as the teaching process. The concept ‘teaching’ is understood as ‘teaching acts’ that are carried out both in formal teaching situations within specific lessons as well as in informal teaching situations in between the lessons. According to the pupils, a trusting climate between teachers and pupils is an essential condition for counteracting sexual harassment successfully. The result also shows that the knowledge content usually is mediated, as in traditional school practice, from the teacher to the pupils in specific lessons. The pupils find these fact-based lessons both relevant and irrelevant. Some lessons are based on the pupils’ own experiences and on limiting gender norms in society and in school. These lessons have a dialogical approach, where the teachers and pupils learn together based on a good relationship.
... Forskare talar om att elever tvingas vistas i en fientlig miljö (Gillander Gådin, 2012). I skolan är korridorerna de vanligaste platserna för sexuella trakasserier (Lichty & Campbell, 2012) och ett flertal studier rapporterar att verbala och fysiska kränk ningar är så vanliga i skolvardagen att dessa har blivit normaliserade (deLara, 2012;Gillander Gådin, 2012;Gillander Gådin & Stein, 2019;Hlavka, 2014;Lahelma, 2002;Witkowska, 2005). I en studie av sexuella trakasserier bland elever i åldrarna 11-13 år i USA fann forskarna att sexuella trakasserier var mycket vanligt förekom mande redan i dessa relativt låga åldrar. ...
... Det är inte ovanligt att elever som blir utsatta saknar vuxnas hjälp för att förstå och avbryta de sexuella trakasserierna. Detta bidrar till att kränkningarna kan fortsätta och att de till och med uppfattas som ett oundvikligt inslag i skolmiljön (Hlavka, 2014;Rahimi & Liston, 2011;Witkowska, 2005). Sammanfattningsvis visar både nationell och internationell forskning att lärare saknar kunskap om hur sexuella trakasserier kan identifieras och hanteras så att förekomsten minskar. ...
I föreliggande studie är syftet att presentera ett pedagogiskt verktyg för att sortera könsrelaterade resonemang relevanta för diskussioner om sexuella trakasserier, samt att lyfta fram och tydliggöra de pedagogiska implikationer som ett visst grundantagande för med sig. Detta pedagogiska verktyg appliceras på två kvinnliga gymnasieelevers berättelser om erfarenheter av sexuella trakasserier under sin tid i grund- och gymnasieskolan. Tre olika förklaringsmodeller används i analysen. Dessa är ’med könsskillnader i fokus’, ’med den könsneutrala individen i fokus’ samt ’med könsnormer i fokus’. När könsskillnader framhålls som förklaringsmodell, blir slutsatsen att pojkarna styrs av sin biologi och att de därför inte kan hållas ansvariga för sina handlingar. Om könsneutralitet betonas, blir konsekvensen att sexuella trakasserier inte kan knytas till ett specifikt kön. Istället är det den specifika situationen eller individen som är den avgörande faktorn. När könsnormer är i fokus kan sexuella trakasserier förstås som något unga män i grupp använder sig av som ett sätt att stärka och bekräfta maskulinitet i en heteronormativ ordning. Vissa förklaringsmodeller kan underlätta och andra kan försvåra arbetet för att motverka sexuella trakasserier.
... Uhnoo (2011) menar att det ofta är flytande gränser mellan vad som av elever betraktas som bråk respektive misshandel och hur dessa situationer förstås är beroende på hur relationen mellan de inblandade eleverna ser ut. Forskning visar även hur elever värjer sig mot positionen som brottsoffer och att speciellt pojkar är ovilliga att benämna sexuella glåpord och hot som kränkningar (Witkowska 2005). I skolan har frågor om kränkningar ofta behandlats som mobbning. ...
... Utifrån vårt material är det svårt att avgöra om orsaken är att detta inte är vanligt förekommande eller om sådana händelser går personalen obemärkt förbi. Tidigare forskning har visat hur elever undviker att benämna situationer av utsatthet som sexuella kränkningar, vilket kan vara en delförklaring till frånvaron av sådana berättelser i materialet (Witkowska 2005). ...
Legal perspectives or Social Pedagogy? Schools strategies of handling harassments
The present study explores how Swedish schools define and categorize situations when students have been exposed to different forms of abusive acts and violence at school. The empirical study is designed as case studie of two urban secondary schools situated in areas with different socioeconomic conditions. One of the schools is located in a suburb in one of the most econo- mically disadvantaged areas in a greater city area. The other school is located in a small town municipality, where the students are relatively privileged in respect to their socio-economic backgrounds. The results indicate that different socio-economic conditions influence how professional’s describe and categorize violence and harassment and the types of strategies chosen. In the suburban school professionals talk and collaborate with the police, reporting cases of violence and harassment. In the small town school the professionals talk about the importance of collaborating with parents.
... Kedua, pelecehan seksual bisa terjadi di sekolah atau perguruan tinggi(Akhtar, 2013;Bondestam & Lundqvist, 2020;Gruber & Fineran, 2015;Oni, Tshitangano, & Akinsola, 2019;Smit & Du Plessis, 2012;Witkowska & Menckel, 2005). Faktor penyebabnya misalkan rendahnya peraturan yang bisa meminimalisir terjadinya pelecehan seksual(Sang, Kemboi, & Omenge, 2016), pelaku pelecehan seksual mendapatkan pengalaman pelecehan seksual di masa lalu, buruknya komunikasi dan hubungan antara mahasiswa atau peserta didik dengan orang tua yang menyebabkan mahasiswa atau peserta didik melakukan pelecehan seksual dan juga menyebabkan mahasiswa atau peserta didik yang lain kurang terdidik tentang bentuk pelecehan seksual, rendahnya kendali diri, kurangnya pengawasan orang tua(Shebl, Elmashad, & Hassan, 2017), rendahnya Vol. 5 No. 2, July -December 2021 pengetahuan peserta didik atau mahasiswa tentang bentuk-bentuk pelecehan seksual, adanya pengajar yang menggunakan wewenangnya untuk memberikan hadiah berupa nilai yang tinggi jika mau melakukan perilaku seksual, rasionalisasi pengajar bahwa percakapan dan sentuhan kepada mahasiswa atau peserta didik lawan jenis sebagai perilaku untuk mengakrabkan.Ketiga, pelecehan seksual bisa terjadi di transportasi umum(Mazumder & Pokharel, 2018; Agrawal, Loukaitou-Sideris, Tortora, & Hu, 2020; Gautam, Sapakota, Shrestha, & Regmi, 2019; Gekoski, Gray, Adler, & Horvath, 2017; Quinones, 2020). ...
Life problems include many things, one of which is sexual harassment. The data shows that the number of sexual harassment is increasing. In addition, sexual harassment can occur at any time and in various contexts. However, there is still little research related to sexual harassment that involves various perspectives. The multi-perspective research is important so that the solution to handling sexual harassment is comprehensive. The study was conducted by systematic review. The results showed that the study of sexual harassment using psychological, social, and religious perspectives would produce more comprehensive alternative solutions. For example, increasing knowledge about sexual harassment, improving the construction of women's image and position between men and women, self-control, increasing assertive behavior, providing support to victims of sexual harassment, to increasing religiosity.Keywords: psychology; religion; sexual harassment; social
... As in previous research (Witkowska, 2005;Phipps & Young, 2015) girls in this study indicate that there are various contexts offline, not least in school, in which sexual harassment occur in their everyday life. Everything from negative comments to catcalling. ...
The aim of this study is to contribute knowledge about Swedish school girls’ perspectives of sexual harassment and their relations to peers when exposed to violence in terms of sexual harassment, both online and offline. The empirical data was collected through pair interviews where 28 girls participated. The theoretical framework was based on coping strategies that people use when facing stressful situations. The transcribed empirical data was read and interpreted based on what appeared to be important and decisive related to the theoretical framework. The found strategies are divided into three main categories, namely, problem-focused behavioural strategies, emotion-focused cognitive strategies, and emotion-focused behavioural strategies. The results show that the girls use different strategies depending on if the harassment occurs online or offline and if the perpetrator is known or unknown. Problem-focused cognitive strategies are used due to the specific context. Emotion-focused cognitive strategies are foremost used if the perpetrator is a known friend.
... 17,29 In European countries also , 50% girl in academic institute are facing sexual harassment . 30 Such harassment also has reported on developing and underdeveloped countries too. 18,19 In this study, the percentage of sexual harassment at Nepalese condition has been found to be slightly higher than other countries. ...
Objectives: The aim of the study was to explore the situation of sexual harassment among the adolescent girl students in Rupandehi district of Nepal. Method:
Concurrent mix method was applied in the study. Total 402 adolescent school girls were selected for quantitative study. Five focus group discussion (FGD), four
key informant information (KII) and seven in-depth interviews (IDI) were carried out for qualitative study. The quantitative data were analyzed in IBM SPSS 20.
The qualitative data were transcribed manually and triangulated with quantitate data. Results: Higher prevalence (89%) of sexual harassment have been found
in the studied group. The verbal types of harassments were most common (68.5%) among the victim. Conclusion: Sexual harassment was a common on the
girl students at Rupandehi district and they were suffering from different types of sexual harassment. Among the different level of sexual harassment, less
severe types of sexual harassments were more common than moderate severe level and most severe types of sexual harassments.
... Cinsel şiddet, psikolojik danışmanların ele almak durumunda kaldıkları krizlerden biridir (Korkut-Owen, 2015). Yapılan çalışmalarda, cinsiyetten bağımsız olarak ergenlerin önemli bir bölümünün okulda veya okul dışında fiziksel veya sözel olarak cinsel şiddete ve flört şiddetine maruz kaldıklarını bildirmişlerdir (Foshee vd., 2009;Hickman, Jaycox, Aronoff, 2004;Witkowska, 2005). Cinsel sağlık eğitimi aracılığı ile önlenmesi, sıklığı azaltılması hedeflenen olumsuz yaşantılar arasında cinsel şiddetin her türlü formu yer almaktadır (SIECUS, 2004). ...
... I disse miljøene kan kvinner derfor bli forhindret fra å delta. (Witkowska, 2005). Det blir i følge Yee (2008) antatt at grunnlaget for motviljen kvinner møter ligger i et essensialistisk syn på kjønn og antagelsen om at menn og kvinner har forskjellige interesser og motivasjon for å spille. ...
Formålet med dette prosjektet er å forstå mer av hvordan brukere av onlinespillet the League of Legends forholder seg til kjønnsidentitet og identitetskonstruksjon i en kultur med stor overvekt av menn. Tilnærmingen har søkt å få innsikt i hvordan informantene snakker om kjønn og utøver kjønn i gruppen. Utgangspunktet for studien har vært online-dataspillet the League of Legends som er kjent for å være et miljø hvor kvinner som viser sitt kjønn i spillet, regelmessig blir utsatt for trakassering. The League of Legends brukes som «case» og målet er å avdekke noen av mekanismene som fører til trakassering av kvinner online. Ved å bruke et teoretisk rammeverk som tar for seg grensedannelser og symbolske grenser blir informantenes erfaringer analysert. Studiens problemstilling er følgende:
Hvordan påvirker symbolske grenser og kjønnskonstruksjonen i the League of Legends spillernes handlefrihet?
Studien har en kvalitativ tilnærming og baserer seg i all hovedsak på datamaterialet fra semistrukturerte dybdeintervjuer, men også observasjon av gruppen i en spillsituasjon og forfatterens egne studier av spillet The League of Legends.
Fem deltagere i studien befinner seg i alderspennnet 19-22 år når intervjuene finner sted. Intervjuene tar form av uformelle samtaler, og hver av dem hadde en varighet på cirka 90 minutter. Intervjuobjektene er i samme vennegjeng og representerer således ikke et representativt utvalg.
Det teoretiske bakteppet har et sosialkonstruksjonistisk og sosiologisk utgangspunkt. Det baserer seg på en relativ ny retning innenfor sosiologien som arbeider med fenomenet symbolske grenser for å avdekke hvordan ulikheter reproduseres i samfunnet (Lamont & Molnár 2002, Lamont, Pendergrass & Pachucki 2015). Også Judith Butlers (2007) teorier om identitet og heteronormativitet og Connell (1987) begreper om emphasized femininity og hegemonisk maskulinitet er sentrale i analysen. Viktige begreper er stereotypier, individuell identitet og gruppeidentitet.
Studien viser at kvinner i stor grad opplever å bli stereotypifisert og utsatt for trakassering i the league of Legends og at måten kjønn konstrueres innad i spillgruppen er med på å danne symbolske grenser og således begrense kvinners handlefrihet. Kvinner og menn opplever spillsituasjonen ulikt og kvinnene i undersøkelsen er i mye større grad utsatt for negative tilbakemeldinger. Dette støttes også av nyere forskning (Ask, Svendsen & Karlstrøm 2016) som fant at det var tydelige forskjeller i hvordan kvinner og menn opplevde spillsituasjonen og sjargongen i spillet. Denne studien viser hvordan kvinner tar forhåndsregler for å unngå negative tilbakemeldinger, og hvordan dette påvirker kvinnenes mulighet til å avansere i spillet og innta posisjoner med høy status.
... time for these victimised girls lives [43]. Furthermore, other scholars have shown that sexual harassment at school is part of everyday life [44][45][46] and that sexual harassment victimisation is associated with poor mental health outcomes [29,31,32]. Hence, preventing sexual harassment victimisation seems to be important as a factor to consider when planning interventions to support girls' positive mental health development. ...
The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the DISA-programme in preventing
depressive symptoms (DS) in adolescent girls, as implemented in a real-world school setting,
accounting for baseline socioeconomic and psychosocial factors, and to investigate whether the
effects of these baseline variables on DS differed between intervention participants and non-
participants. In this non-randomised pragmatic trial, an electronic questionnaire was dissemi-
nated in 2011 (baseline) and 2012 (follow-up) in schools in one municipality in northern Sweden.
Pupils (total
n
=275; intervention participants identified in the questionnaire:
n
=53; non-partici-
pants:
n
=222) were 14
–
15 years old at baseline. The groups were compared by means of SEM.
DISA could not predict differences in DS at follow-up in this real-life setting. In the overall sample,
sexual harassment victimisation (SH) at baseline was associated with DS at follow-up and the
estimate for SH increased in the DISA-participants compared to the overall sample
... In this study, the common types of sexual harassment in the schools were verbal sexual harassment 107 (30.2%) and which were comparable with 49.8% and 31.1% from the study conducted in Jimma zone on high school students [24,[29][30][31][32][33][34]. ...
Abstract
Introduction: Adolescent sexual abuse is one of the major problems of adolescent that affect their health and security. Specifically, as various (regional, national and global) studies indicate the prevalence of the problem in primary and secondary school environment as caused by different individual and contextual factors. But due to different reasons in Limmu Genet high school the problem of adolescent sexual abuse specifically its prevalence, type and determinant factors are not yet well stated and studied. Objective: The main objective of this study is to explore the prevalence, type and identify major determinant factors associated with adolescent sexual abuse of students in Limmu Genet high school. Methodology: The study was conducted and a quantitative research method was used to collect data about the prevalence, type and major factors associated with adolescent sexual abuse from 354 randomly selected high school students in Limmu Genet high school by sampling procedure in the school compound. The data collection was done by self-administered questionnaire that was analyzed with descriptive and explanatory statistics. Results: The result of this study revealed that sexual abuse is prevalent in the study area in the form of exposing adolescent to verbal sexual advances (32.4%) kissing adolescent in a socially unacceptable manner (29.1%), the combination of touching and fondling adolescent sexually (25.9%), making adolescent to look at somebody's genitals (22.7%), forcing to expose their genitals (18.3%) and other forms like discussing about sexual practices (16.5%). Conclusion: In conclusion, the result of this study revealed that the problem is prevalent (34.9%) in Limmu Genet high school. Also Marital status and monthly family income, factors associated with sexual abuse like alcohol drinking and chewing chat have statistically significance with sexual abuse (P<0.05). Recommendation: As a result of the abuse students may become emotionally disturbed, absence/shortage of education, etc. Therefore, measures should be taken against the abusers, by counseling services, gender club, student maladaptive behavior and others by school teachers.
Keywords
Sexual; Violence; Factor; Student
... I sin gjennomgang av relevante studier gjengir Helseth funnene fra norske og svenske kartlegginger av fenomenene seksuell trakassering, kjønnsrelatert mobbing, seksuelle overgrep, heterosexisme og seksualisert mobbing med ny teknologi (til sammen 10 studier). Den ene av disse (Witkowska, 2005) gjengis relativt detaljert (omfang av ulike typer verbal trakassering, ikke-verbal trakassering og seksuelle overgrep (handlinger som innebaerer bruk av fysisk tvang, omtalt som seksuell tvang i denne rapporten)). Studien viser klart at visse typer verbale handlinger med seksuelt innhold er svaert vanlig i ungdomsgruppen (for eksempel «utsatt for fornedrende uttalelser om kjønnet sitt» eller «utsatt for seksuelle samtaler»). ...
Kunnskapsstatusen gir en oversikt over norsk og annen nordisk forskning på bakgrunn av tilgjengelig kunnskap for perioden 2007-2015. Rapporten finner på bakgrunn av kartleggingsstudier at det å bli utsatt for uønsket seksuell oppmerksomhet i form av seksuell trakassering blant elever i ungdomsskolen og videregående opplæring utgjør et betydelig samfunnsproblem og at denne formen for trakassering er utbredt både blant gutter og jenter. Seksuell trakassering synes å være relatert til visse personlige karateristikka og atferd, og ramme noen grupper mer enn andre. Seksuell trakassering synes å ha en negativ effekt på ungdommenes psykiske helse. Disse negative opplevelsene kan forringe deres skolesituasjon, trivsel og generelle livskvalitet. Vi trenger flere og bedre longitudinelle studier, men selv dagens kunnskap om omfang, risikofaktorer og mulige eller sannsynliggjorte helsemessige konsekvenser bærer med seg et ansvar om å intervenere. Det er imidlertid ikke identifisert effektive metoder for å redusere seksuell trakassering blant ungdom. Det etterlyses forskning på dette feltet.
... Being called gay-related names was also recoded into a dichotomous response category distinguishing between "Weekly or more often" and "Less often than weekly" (with the former response alternative containing: "Several times a week" and "About once a week."). Building on Olweus's Bullying questionnaire (Solberg & Olweus, 2003) and Witkowska's (2005) questionnaire on gay-related name-calling, these two items were constructed for the current study and piloted in March 2009 on a convenience sample of pupils. Participants were provided with a definition of bullying that included the main elements of bullying, which are intention to harm, a repetitive nature and an imbalance of power (Solberg & Olweus, 2003). ...
Being called names such as "gay," "faggot," "lezzie" may be experienced as both harmful or harmless by adolescents, depending on the situation in which the name-calling occurs. The aim of this study was to explore how being called gay-related names by agents with whom the relationship is differentiated by friendship, acquaintance status and perceived likeability is associated with depressive symptoms, and to explore associations between gay-related name-calling, bullying and depressive symptoms. The participants were 921 ninth grade pupils (450 boys) with an age range from 14 to 15 years from 15 schools. The study reveals that the participants' depressive symptoms were more associated with being called gay-related names by someone who did not like them or someone they did not know, than with being called gay-related names by a friend. Being called gay-related names was associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms, even when controlling for bullying. Boys who were bullied and called gay-related names had even higher levels of depressive symptoms, as indicated by an interaction effect found between being called gay-related names and bullying. Because of the potential harmfulness of gay-related name-calling, anti-bullying programmes should address this topic as a part of their regular anti-bullying strategy.
... In western countries, words such as gay, faggot, lezzie, and poofter seem to be commonly used in name-calling among adolescents (AAUW, 2001;Chiodo, Wolfe, Crooks, Hughes, & Jaffe, 2009;Witkowska, 2005). Gay-related name-calling appears to be particularly frequent among males (Burn, 2000), and more boys than girls report that they have been agents (McMaster, Connolly, Pepler, & Craig, 2002;Poteat & DiGiovanni, 2010) and targets (Chiodo, et al., 2009;McMaster, et al., 2002) of gay-related name-calling. ...
Studies have shown that words such as "gay," "faggot," etc. are commonly used in name-calling among boys, and that there appear to be numerous reasons why boys are called these names. Norwegian ninth grade pupils (n = 921) were recruited in order to find out whether they had ever called boys or girls gay-related names and, in such case, why. The present study shows that more adolescents reported that they have called a boy gay-related names as a response to the violation of gender norms than for any other reason. The adolescents were also more likely to have called boys gay-related names than to have called girls such names, regardless of the reason for the name-calling.
... Made unwanted attempts to draw into discussion In this study, the common types of sexual harassment in the schools were verbal sexual harassment and which were comparable with 49.8% and 31.1% from the study conducted in Jimma zone on high school female students [2,[7][8][9][10][11][12]. ...
... Unlike in the workplace where sexual harassment usually involves sexual coercion or demands for sexual favours accompanied by workrelated sanctions for refusal, peer sexual harassment in schools might not necessarily entail sexual coercion or include sanctions for refusal; and the harasser might not have clear sexual intent in mind (Duncan, 1999;Gillander Gådin & Hammarstrom, 2000). However, according to Witkowska (2005), some instances of peer harassment may carry a possibility of an implied coercion component based on popularity, or social status within the peer group. It could also apply to a situation in which a student is threatened with physical harm or having his or her reputation damaged, or is promised something desirable, such as popularity or becoming boyfriend/girlfriend, in return for compliance with inappropriate advances. ...
This study was designed to investigate the prevalence and nature of peer sexual harassment among female Nigerian university students. It also examined the perception of students about peer sexual harassment and ascertained the coping mechanisms adopted by victims of peer sexual harassment. Participants consisted of 387 female undergraduate students selected by convenience sampling from three Faculties at the Obafemi Awolowo University. A self-constructed instrument with a test-retest reliability coefficient of 0.79 was administered on students to collect data on their experience and perception of peer sexual harassment as well as adopted coping strategies. The results of the study indicated that verbal harassment was the most frequent type of peer sexual harassment experienced by female students. Findings from the study also showed that most victims of peer sexual harassment did not report their harassment to authorities but adopted strategies that did not involve direct confrontation with their harassers. The study concluded that there was the need for a virile counselling programme in all Nigerian universities to stem down the incidence of peer sexual harassment and that such a programme should be targeted not only at victims but also at perpetrators of sexual harassment.
... Most research on sexual harassment, conducted within the hierarchical organizational context, has studied adult male perpetrators and female targets. However, sexual harassment is common among high school girls and also among boys (American Association of University Women, 2001;Bendixen & Kennair, 2008;Witkowska, 2005). Studies report 12-month prevalence rates in the 40%-50% range for sexist jokes, degrading and obscene sexual comments, and homophobic insults. ...
Sexual harassment and coercion have mainly been considered from a sex difference perspective. While traditional social science theories have explained harassment as male dominance of females, the evolutionary perspective has suggested that sex differences in the desire for sex are a better explanation. This study attempts to address individual differences associated with harassment from an evolutionary perspective. Considering previous research that has found links between sociosexual orientation inventory (SOI) and harassment, we consider whether this association can be replicated in a large, representative sample of high school students (N=1199) from a highly egalitarian culture. Expanding the previous studies which mainly focused on male perpetrators and female victims, we also examine females and males as both perpetrators and as victims. We believe that unrestricted sociosexuality motivates people to test whether others are interested in short-term sexual relations in ways that sometimes might be defined as harassment. Furthermore, unrestricted individuals signal their sociosexual orientation, and while they do not desire all individuals that react to these signals with sexual advances, they attract much more sexual advances than individuals with restricted sociosexual orientations, especially from other unrestricted members of the opposite sex. This more or less unconscious signaling thus makes them exploitable, i.e., harassable. We find that SOI is a predictor for sexual harassment and coercion among high school students. The paper concludes that, as expected, unrestricted sociosexuality predicts being both a perpetrator and a victim of both same-sex and opposite-sex harassment.
... More specifically we investigated whether sex of respondent has an influence on the evaluation of distinct categories of verbal aggression ("slurs") and whether these judgments are contingent upon whether they are used by a woman or a man (sex of sender) towards another women or another man (sex of target). Verbal harassment is highly prevalent among teenagers (for Scandinavian countries: Bendixen & Kennair, 2008, 2009Eliasson, 2007;Witkowska, 2005) and being repeatedly exposed to verbal harassment has been shown to be associated with a variety of adverse health outcomes, ranging from low self-esteem, anxiety and depressive reactions, to psychosomatic complaints and psychotic symptoms (Vatn, Bjertness & Lien, 2007). Thus, gaining an overview over what is considered as insulting by whom within what constellation is important as its results can serve as a reference frame for discussing verbal aggression in applied contexts such as schools' bullying prevention programs. ...
We investigated the influence of the sex of the target and the sex of the sender on the judgment of slurs (verbal derogation). From previous research, we selected and clustered slurs into seven categories and respondents rated their degree of perceived insult in two consecutive questionnaire surveys (N = 281 and N = 224, respectively). Results confirm that slurs are generally judged as being more insulting when directed towards females than towards males. In comparison, differences in sex of sender were small. When directed towards females, slurs referring to "being loose" were rated as the most insulting. For both target sexes, remarks referring to homosexuality and physical unattractiveness were among those rated as the most insulting. Least insulting were slurs referring to unethical acts, lack of intelligence and cowardliness. A sex of respondent effect was found, suggesting that women rated slurs generally more insulting than men. The pattern of results showed considerable stability across surveys attesting for the reliability of the method for measuring the social evaluation of slurs.
... One criterion for the ranking is women's role in society and their independent status. Despite this gender equality discourse, there are still signs of inequality among young people in modern Sweden, seen for instance in the sexual harassment and sexually abusive language that are part of their everyday lives (Berg, 2007;Gådin & Hammarström, 2005;Jeffner, 1997;Witkowska, 2005). Signs of gender inequality and sexualized oppression in younger age groups contradict the view that Sweden and the Nordic countries have already reached optimal gender equality. ...
This article illuminates two Swedish adolescent girls' experiences of living in a violent relationship as teenagers and how this has affected their lives and health over time. Interviews were conducted in a youth health center. A combination of qualitative content analysis and narrative analysis describes violation, stress, trauma, coping, and agency during the period of adolescence and transition into adulthood. Despite Swedish progressive public policies on men's violence against women, teenage girls are exposed to male partners' violation, a severe gendered stressor. There is a need for the development of health policy and gender-responsive interventions geared specifically toward adolescent girls.
Objectives: The aim of the study was to explore the situation of sexual harassment among the adolescent girl students in Rupandehi district of Nepal. Method:
Concurrent mix method was applied in the study. Total 402 adolescent school girls were selected for quantitative study. Five focus group discussion (FGD), four
key informant information (KII) and seven in-depth interviews (IDI) were carried out for qualitative study. The quantitative data were analyzed in IBM SPSS 20.
The qualitative data were transcribed manually and triangulated with quantitate data. Results: Higher prevalence (89%) of sexual harassment have been found
in the studied group. The verbal types of harassments were most common (68.5%) among the victim. Conclusion: Sexual harassment was a common on the
girl students at Rupandehi district and they were suffering from different types of sexual harassment. Among the different level of sexual harassment, less
severe types of sexual harassments were more common than moderate severe level and most severe types of sexual harassments
The main aim of this study was to find out the vulnerable places of sexual harassment to
the girl students and the persons involved in such unwanted behaviors. It was a mixed�methods study. Altogether 773 girl respondents were selected for obtaining quantitative
data from Lalitpur and Rupendehi districts in Nepal. Similarly, 10 focus group discussions,
14 Key informant interviews, and eight In-depth interviews were conducted for collecting
qualitative data. The result showed that male peers/ friends, teachers, neighbors/ relatives,
and strangers were involved in sexual harassment. Frequency of verbal/gestural type of
sexual harassment is higher from male peers and touching/pinching and sexual
abuse/assault types of sexual harassment are more common from teachers and relatives.
Sexual harassment frequently happens in public transport. In society, teachers deserve
great respect and trust from parents and students. They have close access to girl students.
However, such trust and closeness transformed into sexual harassment whereby
accelerating sexual harassment. The higher incidence of sexual harassment at public
transports might be due to the proximity and anonymity, which, in turn, results in high
levels of sexual harassment and abuse with very little risk of social or legal consequences.
The awareness program against sexual harassment and strong laws and order are essential
and the judiciary process should be simple and victim-friendly that can reduce sexual
harassment to girl students by various perpetrators at different domains in society.
Keywords: Sexual harassment, perpetrators, adolescent, schoolgirl, sexual offenders
The main aim of this study was to find out the vulnerable places of sexual harassment to the girl students and the persons involved in such unwanted behaviors. It was a mixed-methods study. Altogether 773 girl respondents were selected for obtaining quantitative data from Lalitpur and Rupendehi districts in Nepal. Similarly, 10 focus group discussions, 14 Key informant interviews, and eight In-depth interviews were conducted for collecting qualitative data. The result showed that male peers/ friends, teachers, neighbors/ relatives, and strangers were involved in sexual harassment. Frequency of verbal/gestural type of sexual harassment is higher from male peers and touching/pinching and sexual abuse/assault types of sexual harassment are more common from teachers and relatives. Sexual harassment frequently happens in public transport. In society, teachers deserve great respect and trust from parents and students. They have close access to girl students. However, such trust and closeness transformed into sexual harassment whereby accelerating sexual harassment. The higher incidence of sexual harassment at public transports might be due to the proximity and anonymity, which, in turn, results in high levels of sexual harassment and abuse with very little risk of social or legal consequences. The awareness program against sexual harassment and strong laws and order are essential and the judiciary process should be simple and victim-friendly that can reduce sexual harassment to girl students by various perpetrators at different domains in society.
Sexual harassment has become so frequent and ubiquitous in schools that these behaviours have become normalised and expected. In order to prevent the re-enactment and perpetuation of this problem, it is important to explore processes that contribute to its existence. A high school sexual harassment lawsuit in Sweden is used as a case study to illustrate ways that might explain how sexual harassment is normalised at the organisational level. A thematic analysis has been used to identify themes and subthemes. The results show a multi-layered web of factors and practices related to sexual harassment at the organisational level in the school. In order to change a school’s culture from one where sexual harassment is normalised, multiple needs must be addressed: organisational weaknesses must be strengthened; adults enact their responsibility to change the situation; and awareness of the relationship between sexual harassment, gender, and power needs to be increased.
Denne rapporten inneholder den første kartleggingen av seksuell trakassering blant elever i videregående skoler her til lands. Elever ved i alt ni skoler i Sør-Trøndelag var med i kartleggingen. I tillegg ble det foretatt en kartlegging av lærernes opplevelser av seksuell trakassering fra elever på de samme skolene. En rekke former for uønsket trakassering er kartlagt; alt fra seksuelt nedsettende kommentarer, homonegative utsagn, til berøring av intime kroppsdeler, krav om seksuelle tjenester og tvang til samleie/munnsex. Kartleggingen omfatter også nyere former for seksuell trakassering hvor digitale media er benyttet (mobiltelefon og internett). For å kunne gi et mer komplett bilde av denne problematikken er elevene også spurt om trakasserende handlinger de utsetter andre for. Resultatene viste at det å bli utsatt for seksuell trakassering er vanlig blant både jenter og gutter. Jentene var mer utsatt for kommentarer om kropp og utseende, samt beføling, krav om seksuelle tjenester og tvang til samleie/munnsex (overgrep). Guttene var spesielt utsatt for homonegative utsagn. Jenter på yrkesfaglig studieprogram var mer utsatt for mer alvorlige former for trakassering enn jenter på studieforberedende program. Homo/biseksuelle elever og elever med fremmedkulturell bakgrunn rapportere noe høyere forekomst av å bli utsatt for seksuell trakassering og tvang til sex. Elever i disse gruppene var også noe mer involvert i seksuell trakassering av andre. Gutter var med få unntak mer involvert i seksuell trakassering av andre enn det jenter var. En mindre andel ansatte (20%) ved de ni skolene rapporterte om minst én form for seksuell trakassering fra elever. Det synes som de ansatte ved skolene i betydelig grad trenger gode verktøy for å håndtere denne problematikken ved skolen, og både elever og ansatte gir klart uttrykk for et økt behov for opplæring på temaet seksuell trakassering.
In der Europäischen Union besuchen etwa 93 Millionen Kinder und Jugendliche eine Schule. Deutschland zählt nahezu 14 Millionen Schülerinnen und Schüler (EACEA, 2012). In bestimmten Altersgruppen stellt der Besuch einer Schule eine normative Erfahrung dar. So besuchen 98,5 % der sechsjährigen Kinder in Europa eine Schule. Auch bei den siebzehnjährigen Jugendlichen sind es noch nahezu 90 %. Im Durchschnitt halten sich Kinder und Jugendliche in Europa an Schultagen 5-7 Stunden dort auf (Alsaker & Flammer, 1999), wobei die durchschnittlich in der Schule verbrachte Zeit mit Ausbreitung der Ganztagsschule noch zunimmt. Entsprechend der großen Anzahl an Kindern und Jugendlichen, die eine Schule besuchen, arbeiteten in diesem institutionellen Bereich allein in Deutschland 2010 nahezu 1,5 Millionen Lehrkräfte voll- oder teilzeit.
Closeted gamer girls: Sexual harassment in online video games
This article presents findings from a Norwegian research project on sexual
harassment in online gaming. Based on an online survey (N=935) and expert
interviews (N=8) with players, the authors examine sexual harassment, how it
is performed, explained and with what consequences. The survey shows that
sexually harassing language and behaviour is prevalent in games, but is also
subject to controversy as many players code their activity as part of gameplay
and not as a marginalizing process.
The aim of this study was to examine whether attitudes about gay-related name-calling, social norms concerning gay-related name-calling among co-students, teacher intervention, and school-related support would predict whether secondary school pupils had called another pupil a gay-related name during the last month. A total of 921 ninth-grade pupils (aged 14 to 15 years) at 15 lower secondary schools from two regions in Norway participated in the study by filling out a questionnaire. A logistic regression analysis revealed that having a negative attitude toward calling someone gay-related names was negatively associated with having called a pupil gay-related names in the last month. However, having heard a pupil call another pupil gay-related names at school was the variable that most powerfully predicted this behavior. These findings give certain grounds for optimism regarding the prevention of gay-related name-calling and indicate that preventive measures aimed at students’ awareness would probably make a difference.
Exploring the issue of peer group influence, Brown concludes that teenagers are not uniformly susceptible to peer influence and that the negative and causal nature of peer pressure has been overstated. However, Brown (1990) notes that "the question remains whether peer pressure and peer group affiliations are primarily limiting or liberating forces in teenagers' lives" (p. 193).
One possible aspect of the limiting nature of peer interactions is peer harassment. It is this aspect of peer interactions and groupings that we explore in this article. A further concentration of our focus examines the gender themes and differences in peer harassment.
Recently the focus of sexual harassment research on the harassment of women by men has been challenged. Treatments of sexual harassment of men, however, have generally ignored power differentials between the genders. Our analysis predicts that behaviors identified as harassing by men stem from negotiations of gender in the workplace that challenge male dominance, whereas behaviors experienced by women as sexually harassing reinforce female subordinance. Consistent with our predictions, results indicated the following: men are considerably less threatened than women are by behaviors that women have found harassing; men find sexual coercion the most threatening form of harassment; men as well as women sexually harass men; and men identify behaviors as harassing that have not been identified for women. Results also showed signs of backlash among men against organizational measures that address sexual harassment and discrimination against women. Implications for psychological and legal definitions of sexual harassment of men are discussed.
This article describes the roles of gender, power, and relationship in peer sexual harassment for 342 urban high school students. Overall, 87% of girls and 79% of boys report experiencing peer sexual harassment, whereas 77% of girls and 72% of boys report sexually harassing their peers during the school year. Girls experience the more overtly sexual forms of harassment more often than boys and boys perpetrate sexual harassing behaviors more often than girls. Hypotheses of a relationship between power, gender, and the perpetration of peer sexual harassment are supported.
The purpose of this study was to investigate elementary school children''s interpretation of sexual harassment incidents and the relationship of those interpretations to self-esteem and body esteem. Eleven scenarios were read to 73 third- to fifth-grade children. Eight scenarios exemplified peer harassment. The children were asked how they thought the victim felt, what the victim should do, why the perpetrator did this, and whether something similar had ever happened to them. They also completed gender role, self-esteem, and body esteem scales. Results indicated that the majority of the children had experienced peer harassment and that the boys and girls had experienced about equal amounts. However, total harassment was negatively related to self-esteem in girls, but not boys. Furthermore, the children''s interpretations of the scenarios as well as the relationship of these interpretations to body and self-esteem indicated that the meaning of sexual harassment was different for the boys and girls. Girls were more likely to think the victim would be frightened and boys more likely to think that the victim would be flattered by the attention. Girls who reported that the victim would be frightened or that they did not know how the victim would react reported lower body esteem. These data are interpreted within the framework of sexual terrorism and sexual objectification theories. These data also underscore the need for additional research in sexual harassment among young children.
Peer sexual harassment is an often overlooked problem for both girls and boys in the educational environment. This article
provides a historical framework for defining peer sexual harassment as a sex discrimination issue and a description of peer
sexual harassment as a potential mental health issue. The article also reviews the limited empirical research on teenage peer
sexual harassment, which has consistently revealed that nearly four of five adolescents are the targets of sexual harassment
by their peers. Finally, the authors explore a theoretical context in which to understand sexual harassment and the implications
for social work practice in education.
Harassment and victimization among male workers were studied in a sample of 460 industrial workers, supervisors and managers within a Norwegian marine engineering industry. The results indicated that aggression and harassment are significant problems in this organizational setting. On a weekly basis, 7% of the men reported being subjected to at least one of the following behaviors from coworkers or supervisors: ridicule and insulting teasing, verbal abuse, rumors and gossips spread about themselves, offending remarks, recurring reminders on blunders, hostility or silence when entering a conversation, or the devaluing of one's effort and work. As many as 22% reported being subjected to one or more of these acts at least monthly. Although such acts and conducts are common and experienced by most organization members now and then, they may significantly impair psychological health and well-being as well as overall job satisfaction when occurring consistently and systematically. Significant correlations were found between exposure to harassment and both job satisfaction and psychological health and well-being. Strong correlations were found between exposure to harassment and dissatisfaction with co-worker interaction.
The authors investigated coping responses to sexual harassment across 4 samples of working women from 3 cultures and 2 occupational classes. Complete-link cluster analyses provide preliminary support for D. E. Knapp, R. H. Faley, S. E. Ekeberg, and C. L. Z. Dubois's (1997) coping framework, suggesting that avoidance, denial, negotiation, advocacy seeking, and social coping are universal responses to sexual harassment. Further, L. F. Fitzgerald's (1990) internal-external dichotomy appears to capture higher order relationships among coping responses. In addition, regression analyses suggest that Turkish and Hispanic American women engage in more avoidance than Anglo American women, and Hispanic women also use more denial but less advocacy seeking. No differences emerged in social coping. The authors discuss these results in the context of coping theory, individualism-collectivism, power distance, and patriarchal gender norms.
It is a recurrent finding that adolescent girls report psychological symptoms in a higher degree compared with boys. The explanations for this difference vary, but the psychosocial school environment has never been a focus in these explanations. The aim of this study was to analyse whether psychosocial factors at school were associated with a high degree of psychological symptoms among boys and girls in grade nine, with a special focus on sexual harassment.
The study was based on a cross-sectional study including 336 pupils (175 girls and 161 boys) in grade nine (about 15 years old), who answered an extensive questionnaire. The non-response rate was negligible (<1%). Logistic regression analysis was used to analyse whether school-related factors (teacher support, classmate support, sexual harassment), body image, and parental support were associated with a high degree of psychological symptoms.
Sexual harassment at school was associated with a high degree of psychological symptoms among girls.
Sexual harassment must be acknowledged as a negative psychosocial school environmental factor of importance for the high degree of psychological ill-health symptoms among girls compared with boys.
In this article, Nan Stein argues that sexual harassment in schools is a form of gendered violence that often happens in the public arena. She presents the narratives of girls and boys about their experience of sexual harassment in schools and finds parallels with cases documented in court records and depositions. While highly publicized lawsuits and civil rights cases may have increased public awareness of the issue, inconsistent findings have sent educators mixed messages about ways of dealing with peer-to-peer sexual harassment. The antecedents of harassment, she suggests, are found in teasing and bullying, behaviors tacitly accepted by parents and teachers. Stein makes a case for deliberate adult intervention and the inclusion of a curriculum in schools that builds awareness of these issues.
Surveys documenting the prevalence of sexual harassment in Canada are hindered by four problems: the lack of mutually exclusive, behaviourally based survey items; the lack of exhaustive categories; inappropriate time frames for items; and a lack of context for these survey items. We compare the results from the 1983 Canadian Human Rights Commission study and the 1994 Violence Against Women survey to highlight these four common problems found in sexual harassment surveys. The Violence Against Women survey overcomes several of these problems and provides reliable estimates of the prevalence of sexual harassment. According to the Violence Against Women survey, 54 percent of Canadian women experience sexual harassment over their lifetime by known men in general and twenty-three percent experience sexual harassment by known men in workplace positions. This survey though, does appear to under-represent the amount of poisoned environment harassment experienced by Canadian women.
This study describes adolescents' experiences with sexual harassment while working part-time and attending high school. In a sample of 712 high school students, 35% of the 332 students who work part-time report experiencing sexual harassment (63% girls, 37% boys). Results revealed that there are differences in the experience of sexual harassment by gender, work relationship, and emotional reaction. Students experienced harassment from supervisors (19%), coworkers (61%), and unidentified others at work (18%). Girls reported being significantly more upset and threatened by the sexual harassment they experienced at work than boys reported
This article is concerned with measures of fit of a model. Two types of error involved in fitting a model are considered. The first is error of approximation which involves the fit of the model, with optimally chosen but unknown parameter values, to the population covariance matrix. The second is overall error which involves the fit of the model, with parameter values estimated from the sample, to the population covariance matrix. Measures of the two types of error are proposed and point and interval estimates of the measures are suggested. These measures take the number of parameters in the model into account in order to avoid penalizing parsimonious models. Practical difficulties associated with the usual tests of exact fit or a model are discussed and a test of “close fit” of a model is suggested.
he decision in the spring of 1996 by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) of the United States to file suit against Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of America for "continued physical and verbal abuse against women" at its car assembly plant in Normal, Illinois, has given rise to a wave of media attention. Press coverage of the case, to be heard by a United States district court as one of the EEOC's largest sexual harassment suits, stressed not only the gross offence (the sex parties allegedly occurring at the factory), but also the reaction of the factory's management to the filing of the suit (calling a staff meeting to encourage workers to deny the allegations; alleged seeking out of private records, including gynaecological and divorce records, of the 28 women who have also filed suit against the company). This has led to speculation over the amount of damages that might be awarded if the company is found guilty of sexual harassment in employment.1 Recent intense debate over the outcome of sexual harassment claims, such as the foregoing, has prompted the current article. Over the last ten years a broad literature - of an academic, legal and sociological nature - has become available on sexual harassment. 2 Most commentators on this subject start by tracing the emergence of the concept through development of the civil rights legislation in the United States in the 1970s. Most then mention the adoption, on 27 November 1991, of the European Commission's Recommendation on the protection of the dignity of women and men at work and associated Code of Practice on measures to combat sexual harassment,3 and go on to analyse national legislation concerning sexual
This book uses evidence gathered from legal, anecdotal, and survey-based sources to explore sexual harassment in K-12 schools. The text is divided into seven chapters. Chapters 1 and 2 use material from surveys, salient lawsuits, and students' stories to describe harassment and to elaborate on the contradictions and confusions that surround this term. Chapter 3 focuses on gender-based bullying and sexual harassment among children in elementary schools, and chapter 4 continues the discussion about confusion over words, especially the misuse of the term "sexual harassment" for sex discrimination. The relationship between the First Amendment rights of students and issues of gender are explored in chapter 5, which states that girls are afforded fewer expressive rights, often in the name of prevailing notions of sex-role-typical behaviors and expectations. Chapter 6 traces justice, and the miscarriage of justice, that occurs in the schoolhouse when administrators attempt to adjudicate sexual harassment disputes. The last chapter discusses the disturbing trend of the schools being the sites of increased sexual violence, and suggests directions for more research to determine to what extent sexual harassment is occurring between students who are or had been dating. A conclusion examines recommendations to reduce sexual harassment and sexual violence in schools. (Contains an index and approximately 300 references.) (RJM)
Housework is a useful arena for a study of the manufacturing of everyday femininity and masculinity. This article focuses on discourses and practices concerning housework and its equal or unequal distribution between husband and wife. It analyses how gender equality ideologies are met with or assimilated into everyday speech and understandings among Swedish women. Interview accounts from two women of different ages and class positions are analysed in detail, using a discursive approach of analysis. Their ways of relating to available discourses on gender equality and femininity are contrasted, and related to the feminist project of fifty‐fifty sharing of housework and traditional discourses of separate spheres for women and men.
define sexual harassment and describe the incidence of sexual harassment of students in elementary, secondary, and higher education / describe the impact sexual harassment has on students' lives / describe sexual harassers / identify students' responses to dealing with sexual harassment
offer suggestions for curtailing sexual harassment through the institution of school policies and panels to enforce them, training of teachers and students, and educational campaigns to inform the educational community of the nature and severity of the problem (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
consider the following issues: (a) the usefulness of the χ[superscript]2 statistic based on various estimation methods for model evaluation and selection; (b) the conceptual elaboration of and selection criteria for fit indexes; and (c) identifying some crucial factors that will affect the magnitude of χ[superscript]2 statistics and fit indexes / review previous research findings as well as report results of some new, unpublished research (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
provides an analysis of empirical definitions of sexual harassment / begin with a brief overview of the historical development of sexual harassment jurisprudence (i.e., legal definitions) and then provide a review of the frameworks that have guided survey construction (i.e., behavioral definitions) and the relationship of such instruments to legal concepts / following a brief overview of issues of meaning and valence (i.e., the seriousness or severity issues), [the authors] explore this topic in more depth via an examination of psychological definitions of sexual harassment / conclude with a discussion of 2 related issues that [the] analysis raises, that is, women's labeling of their experiences [in the workplace] as sexual harassment and the controversial topic of the sexual harassment of men (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The present study used retrospective reports of primarily white female university students to examine a number of issues related to sexual harassment in high school. Results indicate that underperception of sexual harassment in high school exists in that reports of objective experiences appear to be quite high and exceed the actual labelling of these experiences as sexual harassment. Those who reported having an overprotective mother, observing fewer positive behaviors between their parents, and experiencing unwanted sexual contact during childhood experienced a greater number of objectively-defined incidents of sexual harassment, than those who did not. Underperception of sexual harassment was associated with a greater frequency of negative behaviors directed toward the father by the mother, but was not related to experiencing unwanted sexual contact during childhood.
The definition of sexual harassment has always been a key topic for feminists who seek to provide women with a political vocabulary with which to resist male oppression. Therefore, recent contributors to the sexual harassment debate have been concerned by women's apparent non-labelling of “sexual harassment.” This article, however, suggests that the construction of “sexual harassment” as the only meaningful conceptualisation for unwanted male sexual conduct is unhelpful: it means that women's alternative interpretations for such experiences are not respected. I draw from qualitative interviews to explore the ways in which women interpret unwanted male sexual conduct. My proposition is that “sexual harassment” should be understood as only one of many meaningful interpretations for unwanted male sexual conduct: a recognition of a range of terms for unwanted male sexual conduct, rather than just one term, will enable more women to name and perhaps challenge unwelcome experiences.
The aim of this qualitative study was to analyse gendered strategies among pupils in the negotiation of power at school, and to discuss possible implications for health. Twenty-seven single-sex focus group interviews were conducted with pupils from equal opportunity projects. The interviews were analysed using grounded theory. The girls used ‘alliance building’ and ‘resistance’, in order to increase their power, while ‘responsibility taking’ and ‘withdrawal’ could mean maintained subordination. The boys used mastering techniques (various types of abuse, claiming to be the norm, acting-out behaviour, blaming the girls, choosing boys only) in self-interest to maintain their dominance. The girls' active and democratic actions for increased power could be of significant importance for their health. The boys' health would benefit if they gave up striving for power over others. School health promotion needs to address the asymmetric and gendered distribution of power between pupils, as well as to challenge the existing gender regime at an institutional level.
Considerable attention has been focused on sexual harassment experiences and attitudes of older adolescents and adults. Recently, educational and judicial institutions have recognized that harassment also occurs among junior and senior high school students. The primary aim of this project was to gather information regarding early adolescents' experiences with and acceptance of sexual harassment behaviors. Results indicate a considerable proportion of females (50%) and males (37%) have been victims of sexual harassment perpetrated by their peers, even though their acceptance of these behaviors is quite low. Suggestions for a sexual harassment educational program for early adolescents are presented.
Adolescent women (N = 1,025) in grades 7 through 12 in a stratified random sample of Alberta high schools completed measures of emotional problems and suicidal behavior in the past six months, and of frequency and type of sexual assault (including sexual harassment) experienced in school. It was found that 23% has experienced at least one event of assault (sexual touching, sexual threats or remarks, or an incident of indecent exposure); 4% had "often" experienced one or more of these assaults or harassments. Those experiencing a high number of sexual assaults or harassments were significantly more likely to have clinical profiles on the measures of emotional disorder; 15% of 38 women experiencing frequent, unwanted sexual touching had "often" made suicidal gestures or attempts in the previous six months, compared with 2% of 824 women with no experience of sexual assault.
Much attention is paid to the influence of different data collection methods on the quality of self-reported drinking behavior estimates. Thus far, however, the findings show inconsistencies. Therefore, a comprehensive study was conducted to compare data on alcohol use and alcohol-related problems obtained by mail survey and personal interviews.
A general population survey on alcohol was conducted among a random sample of 8,000 Dutch inhabitants of Rotterdam aged 16 to 69. A small sample (n = 500) of the total sample (N = 8,000) was personally interviewed and the others (n = 7,500) received a mailed questionnaire. The response rate was 44% (N = 3,537). Respondents of the mail survey and personal interviews are compared on overall response rate, item-nonresponse rate, background factors, self-reported alcohol use, alcohol-related problems and problem drinking.
No notable differences in self-reported alcohol use, alcohol-related problems or problem drinking were found by data collection mode. This holds for both the total general population and for men and women separately. The overall response rate was somewhat higher for the personal interviews. No important significant differences were found in item nonresponse or background factors.
The absence of notable differences in estimated self-reported drinking behavior by mail survey and personal interviews indicates that both data collection methods yield comparable results. This is true for both the total population and for men and women separately.
Despite increasing societal concern about sexual harassment in the workplace and in academia, to date sexual harassment has been neglected by nurses as a health issue among adolescents. Sexual harassment includes a wide range of unwelcome sexually oriented and gender-offensive behaviours that contribute to a hostile environment. Although the research is limited and lacking in rigour, early findings, along with evidence abstracted from the workplace-harassment and stress and coping literature, suggest that peer sexual harassment may adversely affect young women's mental and physical health, health-related behaviours, and future relationships. The author makes recommendations for further sexual-harassment research, specific to the adolescent population, based on a conceptual framework derived from the transactional stress and coping literature.
Sexual harassment is one of the most insidious, yet pervasive, forms of violence that affects all girls, not merely those traditionally thought to be vulnerable or at risk. Although harassment in the workplace has been the focus of considerable attention during the last decade, there is a growing recognition that girls experience varied forms of sexual harassment, and that this behavior begins at a surprisingly early age. This article examines the plight of the "girl child" and presents findings from the first phase of a national action research project currently being conducted by the Canadian Alliance of Five Research Centres on Violence. A major objective of this project is to examine how violence becomes "normalized" in the lives of girls and young women. Implications for nurses, including strategies aimed at encouraging resistance among this population, are addressed.
Rapid industrialization and modernization in Singapore have created a number of tensions, including an increase in problems related to adolescent sexuality such as sharp increase in the teenage legal abortion rate and high incidence of female teen age marriages with subsequent high divorce rate. Lack of parental supervision, the declining importance of the extended family, the growth of a "peer-group" culture, increased contact between the sexes, and the declining age of menarche are factors in the problem. The teenage abortion rate increased between 1971 and 1976 from 0.8 to 8.1 per 1000, representing a ten-fold numerical increase. A 1978 survey of teenage girls undergoing abortions found that over half had never used contraception due to ignorance, carefreeness, unpreparedness, unavailability of contraceptives, and fear of side effects. The teenage marriage rate rose from 19.1 to 32 per 1000 in 1974 and then fell to 19.8 per 1000 in 1977. The divorce rate for marriages in which 1 or both partners is below 18 is 18.7%, compared to 4.4% for older couples. The government has developed a comprehensive program of family life education for school-children in order to combat the problems of adolescent sexuality.
The author describes the sexual harassment experiences of 565 male and female students in Grades 9 through 11 and discusses the influence of the social construction of gender on those experiences. The sample was drawn from 12 schools in 2 Canadian provinces. The study employed a retrospective correlational survey design, using self-report questionnaires administered in class. The results indicate that sexual harassment is pervasive among both male and female adolescents but is particularly problematic for girls due to their qualitatively different harassment experiences. Both girls and boys reported gender harassment to be, in general, more upsetting than unwanted sexual advances. Girls employed a greater variety of coping strategies than boys; however, for both sexes passive coping strategies were predominant. The author offers recommendations related to school health programming and discusses the role of the school nurse.
The aim of the study was to explore what behaviors experienced from peers and school staff at school are acknowledged as sexual harassment, and perceived as problematic, by female high school students, and what other factors may be relevant. Analyses were performed of responses (to 540 questionnaires) in an anonymous self-report mail survey from a random sample of female Swedish high-school students (59% response rate). Exposure to relevant behaviors, of varying levels of severity, alone, does not explain the acknowledgment of harassment. Many students were subjected to many of the potentially offensive behaviors without labeling them as sexual harassment, despite the fact that they saw many of them as problematic. Further, viewing the relevant behaviors as problems in one's school did not necessarily lead to acknowledging that sexual harassment in general was a problem. However, the behaviors seen as problems were less likely to be dismissed as sexual harassment than personal experiences. This was especially true of the most common behaviors, namely verbal ones. The results demonstrate female students' reluctance to label incidents as sexual harassment, despite the fact that actual behaviors are perceived as environmental problems. Potentially offensive sex-related behaviors become normalized in the school environment and are difficult to address, when little support is provided by schools.
The purpose was to assess the prevalence of students' experience of verbal abuse and its effects on school satisfaction and well-being from a gender perspective. Attention was paid to age differences.
The study population consisted of all students in grades 6 and 8 in a Swedish city. A total of 1,006 students, ages 12-15, completed a self-administered questionnaire (response rate 84 percent).
Boys reported experiencing insults and threats to a greater extent, whereas girls more frequently experienced sexualized name-calling, specifically "whore". Both genders reported boys as perpetrators of verbal abuse most often. Further, girls generally reported lower levels of school satisfaction and well-being, while verbal abuse had a negative effect on the well-being of both genders.
Verbal abuse between students is a predominantly masculine practice, more pronounced among older students. It impacts negatively on the school satisfaction and well-being of both girls and boys and does not have to be frequent, repeated, or combined with other kinds of harassment to have this effect.
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I en klass för sig. Genus, klass och sexualitet bland gymnasietjejer
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Does the psychosocial school environment matter for health? A study of pupils in Swedish compulsory school from a gender perspective
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