This post is part of a new series on sexual harassment in school, launched in conjunction with the upcoming AAUW report Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment at School. Follow @AAUWResearch on Twitter for more information.
Many people believe that sexual harassment dynamics mean only boys harassing girls. While boys are the majority of the harassers and girls make up the majority of harassed students, sexual harassment is not always so cut and dry.
We know from previous studies that boys, like girls, are definitely victims of harassment in their schools, especially in instances of homophobic teasing. For example, the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network’s 2005 study on bullying said that up to 65 percent of teens reported being verbally or physically harassed or assaulted based on their perceived or actual orientation or gender expression. Boys are no exception to this, and young men cite being called “gay” or “fag” as a form of sexual harassment that they are frequently subjected to, especially if their peers don’t think they are masculine or tough enough.
And just as boys can be victims, girls are also perpetrators, and not just toward boys. Sexual harassment doesn’t necessarily cross the gender divide, and attacks between peers of the same sex are very commonplace. A couple of weeks ago, we blogged about a cheerleader who was being harassed by her female teammates; the victim had sexual comments written about her on the Internet after she stood up for a teammate who was being called a lesbian.
These types of behaviors — spreading rumors about someone’s sex life, using names like “whore” and “slut” and attacking someone’s sexuality — happen with regularity in schools, and while boys can and do participate, too often young women use these forms of harassment against each other. Even though these forms of harassment have received much-needed attention through movies like Mean Girls and the work of advocates like Rosalind Wiseman and Rachel Simmons, girl-against-girl harassment remains a persistent problem. As one blogger recently noted on Hollaback, with the advent of the Internet and texting, girls now have a multitude of platforms through which they can harass.
Thus, while the definition of sexual harassment focuses on sex and gender, the sex and gender of the harassed student and the perpetrator varies. Recognizing this is especially important when we talk about preventing and intervening in harassment; if students from across the spectrum harass and are harassed, then prevention initiatives need to include all students.
This post was written by AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund Intern Julie Smolinski.
AAUW Dialog 
I wouldn’t consider calling someone gay or a fag just because another guy doesn’t think that the other dude has masculine confidence within himself sexual harassment. Sexual harassment has become so broad a term that people are trying to link everything to it. You can’t even have guy talk with a friend at the work place because other people that are listening (that shouldn’t even be listening) could be offended and call it sexual harassment. What ever happened to the times when sexual harassment was when a man tried to pressure a woman into having sex with him either by telling her dirty things or trying to feel her up?
I have to say, I disagree with this post. I don’t think you are doing a service to victims of sexual harassment by lumping all bullying and harassment under the umbrella of sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is a specific thing. When I was a kid, I was often called “gay” or “fag.” But not in a sexually charged way. I was basically being teased for not being masculine, or not being masculine enough. Did it hurt? Yes. But was it sexual harassment? I never saw it that way.
There was plenty of sexual harassment at my school. Guys grabbed girls asses and breasts in the hallways. Women were put down by men in pretty demeaning ways, even in class! By teachers! I am 43, so perhaps some of these excesses have been curbed over the years, but still, these were cut and dried cases of sexual harassment.
I was sexually harassed on a few occasions when I was in school. A few times I had to ward off unwanted advances from older men at the movies. If anything, experiences like that made taunts of “gay” or “fag” cut a bit deeper. But I still would argue they belong in another category. Bullying? Yes, sometimes. Harassment? Yup. But sexual harassment?
Also, I am troubled by assuming a pejorative in 2011 when someone is called “gay.” When I was in school it was accepted by my peers that if you were gay there was something wrong with you. And I’m sure there are still people who feel that way today. But I hope that AAUW does not subscribe to that point of view.