Classroom Ideas for Fighting Sexual Harassment

Last month, AAUW hosted a discussion panel at the National Press Club to discuss the findings of our most recent report, Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment at School. At the event, we had the privilege of having several high school students in attendance, and one of them made an excellent point about presenting sexual harassment information to high school and middle school students. She noted that the presentations she saw at school were usually outdated and campy. Consequently, students failed to take the issue seriously. In fact, sometimes the presentations prompted more harassment as students would attempt to mock the scenarios they had learned about.

In light of this important feedback, we’ve put together some tips for administrators and educators who want to teach about sexual harassment in the classroom while keeping the content engaging and relevant for students.

1. Allot time for discussion. With moderation, discussions can be tremendously effective. By opening up a portion of class time to talk the issue out, you can gauge where students stand on this issue. Are they denying harassment is a problem? Or is this something they identify with? Additionally, talking is a form of thinking. If you have the chance to get students talking, it is a great first step to getting them to consider harassment a real problem.
2. Have students share their stories. One of the event panelists, Ileana Jiménez, suggested teachers have students share their own harassment experiences with one another (either in person or by having students submit written stories anonymously). Students may learn that they have shared experiences, and when this happens, they are more likely to see harassment as a community issue that needs to be addressed. Sharing stories also allows students to be allies for one another and can create a culture of support.
3. If possible, get students involved in the presentation. One of the notable aspects of peer culture is the influence young people can have on one another, and peer education is one of the most effective ways to engage young people on an issue. If your curriculum or lesson plan allows for it, consider having one of your students present a portion of the lesson.
4. Ask questions and challenge assumptions. While it is important to give students straightforward definitions and examples of sexual harassment, it is also important to steer away from preaching. When students ask questions or make statements, you can use some of these opportunities for reflection and critical thinking instead of giving an outright yes or no answer. Revelations about harassment and inequality can be more powerful when students reach them on their own terms, and leading with questions can be a great way to get them to that place.
5. Meet students at their level. It can be easy to get wrapped up in our own minds about sexual harassment’s connection to power imbalances and inequality. But many students don’t understand harassment this way, and what is obvious to us is not always to them. If a student disagrees or says something problematic (for example, that girls are only harassed when they wear short skirts), withhold judgment or the urge to correct them. Instead, ask them about their perspective and work with them from there.
6. It never hurts to get help. You don’t have to pretend to be an expert on this issue, and there are numerous organizations out there that focus on educating young people about harassment and abuse. If you’re lacking ideas or require some extra materials to boost your presentation’s content, don’t be afraid to seek out the resources you need. AAUW’s newest public service announcement is a great visual aid for kicking off a presentation and getting the conversation going. Or check out Men Can Stop Rape. They specialize in reaching out to young men on the topics of rape and assault and have many handouts that you can download for free.

This post was written by AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund Intern Julie Smolinski.

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Preventing Harassment: An Interview with Girls for Gender Equity

This post is part of a series focusing on sexual harassment in middle and high school, launched in conjunction with the release of AAUW’s latest research report, Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment at School, which was supported by the Mooneen Lecce Giving Circle and the Eleanor Roosevelt Fund. Follow @AAUWResearch on Twitter for updates.

AAUW’s research report Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment at School highlights the prevalence of sexual harassment in schools as well as promising practices for ending that harassment. One example is the work of Girls for Gender Equity, a New York City-based nonprofit founded in 2000 that runs a variety of youth programs. They’ve done considerable work around sexual harassment in schools, including conducting student surveys, distributing youth-written tool kits, and creating a Title IX coordinator awareness campaign. Their activities are detailed in the book Hey, Shorty! A Guide to Combating Sexual Harassment and Violence in Schools and on the Streets.

GGE Director of Community Organizing Meghan Huppuch took some time recently to answer a few questions about their work.

AAUW: How did sexual harassment become a focus for GGE?

Huppuch: We have a youth organizing internship called Sisters in Strength. The students meet on a weekly basis and do community organizing. A few years ago, the students talked about the harassment they faced on the way to work. We realized this is a serious problem for the young women in our community and that we needed to help them. As a first step, the girls decided to create a documentary about their experiences inspired by Maggie Hadleigh-West’s film War Zone. They really wanted to show people what they experienced on the street. The film they created is called Hey Shorty.

AAUW: What is the importance of young women getting involved in this issue?

Huppuch: Young women experience harassment and judgment all the time. We as women learn that we’re objects, that we’re not safe in public, that we don’t deserve to be defended [when] this happens, and this is normal and just a rite of passage. So the [women involved with this issue] get to say this is not normal and this is not OK and it needs to stop. And they’re able to identify experiences they’ve had in the past that are not OK and say, “I’m going to do something about it so that it doesn’t happen again.” It’s about taking power back from the harasser and taking charge of the moment.

AAUW: Students may not always label their experiences as harassment. How do you or your youth leaders help make the connection between what students encounter and what they think of as harassment?

Huppuch: When we talk to young people about this, we emphasize that it’s up to them to talk about their experiences. We ask them to consider what is OK or what is not OK, and when it’s not OK, to take action. What is most important is that people define these things for themselves and are able to label it as harassment and speak out.

AAUW: What advice can you offer to students who witness or experience harassment in their schools?

Huppuch: One thing I would say is to talk to other students about it. Other people are probably noticing the same thing as you. It’s always powerful to build a group of people who are at least thinking about it and thinking about what can be done about it. Even if you find only one other person, realize that you both have a lot of power. There are things you can do. You can both ask who the Title IX coordinator is at your school or you can talk to an adult to ask who to report these things to. Use as many resources as you have at your disposal, whether it’s the AAUW report or books like Hey Shorty. There are resources, and it’s good to harness them.

 

This post was written by AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund Intern Julie Smolinski.

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The List

When I was in seventh grade, I spent my time thinking about school work, my friends, and my after-school activities. I did not give much consideration to my body and how it was developing. This all changed on the day that 40 of my female classmates and I will never forget.

Two boys (who were close friends with the group) thought it would be funny to make a list of all the girls and rate them based on various attributes. “The List,” as we referred to it, had categories such as chest, body type, personality, and the dreaded comments section. Some examples of their thought-provoking observations were “mosquito-bite chest” and “makes wide right turns.” The List was intended to be a joke and never to leave the boys’ homes, yet somehow it surfaced, and copies were distributed throughout my middle school.

As I reflect on this “typical” middle school situation (AAUW’s recent report, Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment at School, says that 48 percent of the surveyed students experienced some form of sexual harassment in the last school year), a number of thoughts come to mind. First, this experience was mortifying for all of the girls who were targeted. For the first time, we were made aware of our physical characteristics, while they were displayed for everyone to read. Already vulnerable, we developed insecurities that stayed with all of us. I mentioned to my friend that I was writing about The List, and her response was “I am still haunted by the memory.” These boys’ words remain 15 years later.

Fortunately, there is legislation in Congress to help schools put an end to the bullying and harassment that still goes on. The Safe Schools Improvement Act (S. 506/H.R. 1648), a bipartisan bill, would ensure that states, districts, and schools have policies in place prohibiting bullying and harassment and that schools implement education programs designed to teach students about the issues around and consequences of bullying and harassment. The hope is to prevent situations like The List in the future. We have to teach students that their words are damaging, that victims have available resources in counselors and school authorities, and that schools must do what they can to prevent and respond to bullying and harassment. The Safe Schools Improvement Act is vital for students. Last week, through AAUW’s Action Network, more than 600 members sent a letter to Congress expressing their support.

Although both boys and girls experience sexual harassment, AAUW’s report found that it is much more common for girls. The AAUW Action Fund’s nonpartisan, nationwide My Vote campaign — a voter education and turnout effort — will certainly keep the pressure on candidates to stand up and prevent sexual harassment. You can learn more about the effort on AAUW’s blog and by visiting www.aauwaction.org.

This post was written by AAUW Public Policy Intern Caroline Talev.

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Pick-Up Line or Crossing the Line?

This post is part of a series focusing on sexual harassment in middle and high school, launched in conjunction with the release of AAUW’s latest research report, Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment at School, which was supported by the Mooneen Lecce Giving Circle and the Eleanor Roosevelt Fund. Follow @AAUWResearch on Twitter for updates.

Every student deserves to learn in a school environment that is free from harassment. As part of AAUW’s efforts to make that a reality, we invited educators and experts to speak on a panel at the National Press Club today for the release of our latest report, Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment at School. 

Rosalind Wiseman, educator and author of Queen Bees and Wannabes and numerous other books and articles on children, teens, parenting, and bullying; Kedrick Griffin, senior director of programs at Men Can Stop Rape; and Ileana Jiménez, educator at the Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School in New York shared their experiences and wisdom with us about what to do to prevent sexual harassment.

High school students from The New School of Northern Virginia in Arlington, Virginia, and Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington, D.C., joined us and asked thoughtful questions of the panelists.

Take some time to watch highlights from the event in the video clip below.

Today we also released a public service announcement (PSA) aimed at a student audience that asks whether a student is using a pick-up line or crossing the line. Please share this PSA with teenagers you know and encourage them to visit the AAUW website for information on how to respond to harassers and create change at their school.

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Just a Typical Day at School

This post is part of a series focusing on sexual harassment in middle and high school, launched in conjunction with the release of AAUW’s latest research report, Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment at School, which was supported by the Mooneen Lecce Giving Circle and the Eleanor Roosevelt Fund. Follow @AAUWResearch on Twitter for updates.

Imagine you open the door to a classroom of 30 students. About 14 students in the room will experience sexual harassment in the coming school year, eight girls and six boys. Four of these students will not want to come to school at some point during the school year as a result of sexual harassment. For three students, these feelings will last a short time, but for one student, these negative feelings about school will last “for quite a while.”

Your female students are especially at risk. Assuming 15 girls are in the class, about two girls will have trouble sleeping and three will feel sick to their stomachs as a result of sexual harassment.

In school year 2010–11, this classroom was typical, according to a recent American Association of University Women (AAUW) report, Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment at School, published earlier this week. As a co-author, I am proud of this new resource, which provides the most in-depth, nationally representative data on this subject in more than a decade. Free copies of the report and methodology documents are available at www.aauw.org.

A few issues struck me in the course of analyzing the data for this report. The first was simply the sheer number of children who have to deal with this often painful and humiliating experience. If this year is anything like last year, nearly half of U.S. students will be sexually harassed at school between the beginning of classes in the fall and the end of the school year in the spring. Much of the sexual harassment will be verbal and in person, but nearly a third of students (30 percent) will experience some form of cyber-harassment. For the most part, cyber-harassment appears to happen in concert with in-person harassment. In terms of negative effects on targeted students, the combination of in-person and cyber-harassment appears to be the most damaging. Students who were harassed online and in person were significantly more likely to report negative effects as a result of their experiences than were students who were harassed only in person.

This post was originally published on Education Nation’s The Learning Curve blog. Read the rest of the article on The Learning Curve.

 

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Coming Face-to-Face with Sexual Harassment in School

This post is part of a series focusing on sexual harassment in middle and high school, launched in conjunction with the release of AAUW’s latest research report, Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment at School, which was supported by the Mooneen Lecce Giving Circle and the Eleanor Roosevelt Fund. Follow @AAUWResearch on Twitter for updates.

While unloading my car at a local middle school this September in preparation for my AAUW branch’s school-board candidate forum, I overheard a male student yelling at a female classmate, “Hey, what are you, a lesbian?!” This was no friendly query as to his classmate’s sexual orientation; it was a negative barb flung at a target of sexual harassment. I’d only been on campus a few minutes, and suddenly I was mentally transported back to my own middle school and high school experiences. Some things never change, some might say. But sexual harassment of girls and boys should not be an unavoidable consequence of the educational experience.

In the 1980s when I was in middle and high school, one could escape from sexual harassment by classmates when one went home. That’s no longer the case, as illustrated by AAUW’s latest research report, Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment at School. AAUW researchers queried students in grades 7–12 to determine the consequences of such harassment and to solicit their recommendations to parents, teachers, administrators, staff, community members, and bystanders for dealing effectively with it on campus, in the surrounding community, and on the go via social media, texting, and other technological means.

Because sexual harassment is a pervasive problem that hinders equity in education at every level of our nation’s schools, AAUW has been at the forefront of sexual harassment research for over a decade, including the 1993 Hostile Hallways survey and the 2001 follow-up report, Hostile Hallways: Bullying, Teasing, and Sexual Harassment in School.

Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment at School will both surprise and empower you. Read this report and give yourself the tools to turn the tide. Share this research report widely with your schools, AAUW branches, community-based civic and advocacy groups, friends, families, neighbors, and colleagues by attaching the PDF report file to your e-mails to these groups. With all of us working together, we can make our young people’s educational experiences much less hostile ones.

This post was written by AAUW Director-at-Large Amy Blackwell.

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It’s Much More than Kids Being Kids

This post is part of a series focusing on sexual harassment in middle and high school, launched in conjunction with the release of AAUW’s latest research report, Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment at School, which was supported by the Mooneen Lecce Giving Circle and the Eleanor Roosevelt Fund. Follow @AAUWResearch on Twitter for updates.

This week saw the release of our newest study, Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment at School, a comprehensive survey on sexual harassment in middle and high schools. So far, we have received excellent coverage for our work, and we are thankful for all the positive responses. Of course, with great publicity comes criticism, and there are some people who are eager to label sexual harassment not as a pervasive problem that needs to be addressed but instead as normal teenage behavior that has been happening for as long as anyone can remember (in other words, it isn’t really harassment).

Some people have addressed the issue of accountability, asking whether it is really fair to hold teenagers to the same expectations as adults. Unwanted touching is one thing, but calling someone “gay” or a “whore” — aren’t these just the misguided actions of young people who don’t know any better, who are just beginning to navigate the realms of sexuality and proper adult conduct? If we label all these behaviors as sexual harassment, don’t we risk minimizing more severe incidents like groping or threats?

First of all, we can’t measure the pain of someone’s experiences. Who is to say that the victim of sexual rumors or insults is somehow less affected than someone who is grabbed, especially if the verbal abuse is persistent or comes from multiple sources? But assuming certain incidents are somehow objectively less severe, should we still address them as sexual harassment and not just bullying?

Of course we should. Sexual harassment, by definition, targets someone’s gender and sexuality, and calling someone “gay” or “slutty” in a derogatory way takes a toll, even when done out of adolescent foolishness or “humor.” The behaviors outlined in our survey, which some have discounted as sexual harassment, lie on a bigger scale of gender and sexual oppression, one that has particularly affected women and gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer folks throughout history. These behaviors aren’t suddenly disconnected from that history because they are carried out by adolescents and not adults (especially if we consider the idea that kids probably learned many of these behaviors from adults).

Incidents of sexual harassment and bullying are chances to engage young people on these bigger topics or to at least make them consider how their actions can fit into a bigger context. And who is to say that by addressing “smaller” incidents of harassment this way that we won’t help prevent worse things from happening?

This post was written by AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund Intern Julie Smolinski.

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The Day My Friend Killed Himself

This post is part of a series focusing on sexual harassment in middle and high school, launched in conjunction with the release of AAUW’s latest research report, Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment at School, which was supported by the Mooneen Lecce Giving Circle and the Eleanor Roosevelt Fund. Follow @AAUWResearch on Twitter for updates.

I’ll never forget the day my friend killed himself. Everyone was surprised. He seemed to have everything in life. Attractive, hilarious, great athlete. But something about Dimitrius was different. He was gay.

I met him at an arts program, so obviously his sexual orientation was more accepted there, and I never witnessed him being harassed. He was just the guy every gay man wanted and every girl wished would turn straight. It seems unfathomable to me that anyone could even insult him.

The day he died, a Facebook page was made to honor him, and more than 1,000 people “liked” it. It was on that page that I learned of his struggles — saw what people at his school thought of him. I only knew a small part of his life, and here I finally got a glimpse of the full picture.

His was the first death I had experienced in my life, and I still wish I had asked more questions and gotten closer to him while I had the chance. Maybe I could have helped him.

Dimitrius was an intimidating guy. His stature and build (he played football and lacrosse) made an average hater think twice, but sadly Facebook evened the playing field. Guys who would avoid him in person would insult him on Facebook because they were too scared to do it in the halls of school.

My friend ended his life because others wanted to feel better about themselves. Their decisions to insult him, which probably took around five minutes to make, made him end his 17 years of living. People need to realize that words do hurt. In fact, they can be deadly.

This post was written by a senior at Langley High School in Virginia.

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Sexual Harassment Hurts Boys, Too

This post is part of a series focusing on sexual harassment in middle and high school, launched in conjunction with the release of AAUW’s latest research report, Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment at School, which was supported by the Mooneen Lecce Giving Circle and the Eleanor Roosevelt Fund. Follow @AAUWResearch on Twitter for updates.

By now you probably know that AAUW has released a new research report, Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment at School, since many journalists across the country have published stories about our findings (which you can see for yourself on our website).

On the surface, we’re thrilled with the media coverage. Yet the reason behind it all is an ugly reaffirmation of why we conducted the research in the first place: Sexual harassment runs viciously unchecked in our schools.

One of the worst news stories we’ve seen this week is that of former Pennsylvania State University football coach Jerry Sandusky’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys. Obviously there’s a big difference between sexual harassment and sexual abuse. But the story reminded me of our research and the dire need to raise concern for boys as well as girls. Yes, we are the American Association of University Women. But that doesn’t mean we don’t care about boys. To the contrary, as their mothers, sisters, aunts, and friends, we care very much.

On that note, I want to highlight some of our findings in Crossing the Line that are related to boys. Not surprisingly, girls reported higher rates of sexual harassment than boys did. But of the small number of girls who admitted to harassing, 50 percent said they sexually harassed a boy. We also found that boys are sexually harassing each other. Regardless of the gender of their harassers, boys don’t come out unscathed. Boys reported being most upset about being called gay, and many said they were uncomfortable when they were shown sexual pictures against their will.

This raises some ugly questions that our report asks but does not answer: Why did the student harassers more willingly admit to sexually harassing boys? What do these findings say about how masculinity is being portrayed in our culture?

We have to answer these questions and others before we can figure out how to end sexual harassment for girls and boys. AAUW is dedicated to this issue, and we will continue to ask and search for answers. But our odds of succeeding are much better if we have help — from students, parents, teachers, policy makers, and yes, the media.

I hope that the awareness and discussion raised by the tragic stories in the news this week, as well as our research, bring us closer to answers — for girls and boys everywhere.

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I Like Your Butt in Those Shorts

This post is part of a series focusing on sexual harassment in middle and high school, launched in conjunction with the release of AAUW’s latest research report, Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment at School, which was supported by the Mooneen Lecce Giving Circle and the Eleanor Roosevelt Fund. Follow @AAUWResearch on Twitter for updates.

Like most parents, when my firstborn left the nest for college, I was filled with angst, not worrying about her judgment or common sense, just stressed about all the ignorant people (read: young men) I knew she was bound to encounter. It really hit home last summer as we commuted to work together every day. She dressed pretty modestly, but it didn’t matter what she wore. I would notice young men and grown men (her father’s age) checking out her body. She already knew how to give the “death stare,” but I found myself doing it for her. They would quickly turn away, and the few who looked defiant quickly gave it up, clearly thinking twice about taking me on. I was like Clint Eastwood some days … “Go ahead, make my day.”

When she was a high school student athlete, blatant staring at girls and sexual references to their bodies was the norm. She told me, “Guys commented on my legs and butt all the time. Not just me, though. It was most of the girls, especially the runners and volleyball players who wore spandex. I usually just gave them the death glare or threatened them physically. And guys were really bold with their … ogling. And commenting. They didn’t care.”

Some girls didn’t even try out for sports to avoid the negative environment. Her sophomore year, the school adopted mandatory uniforms. But it really didn’t matter what the girls wore (and who knew you could purchase uber-tight khakis and too-small polo shirts to defy the rules!). Boys felt empowered to treat girls with zero respect, and unfortunately many girls were too frightened, embarrassed, or humiliated to speak up. The harassment of girls began in middle school. She recalled hearing guys in high school talk about “the kinds of things they were doing with girls in empty classrooms in middle school.” I’m sure not all of it was consensual.

But there’s another side of the dilemma. Many girls were extremely angry at other girls for wearing too tight, short, or revealing clothes; modifying their uniforms to look “sluttified;” and (they felt) giving boys free reign to pass judgment on them all. This judging has, of course, migrated to social media, where student Facebook pages from middle to high school to college now “rate” girls or call them out as “sluts” and “hos.” The local term in the Washington, D.C., and Maryland area is “roller,” which Urban Dictionary defines as “a hoe [sic] or a slut, mostly used in the D.C. area for a girl who is a REAL freak. … That girl is a roller — she [is] always with some new dude.” Girls get so little respect that new labels are created to demean them?

We’re talking about young girls! These types of labels do irreparable harm to their self-esteem, body image, academic performance, and even their safety. And try erasing that stigma from your social media footprint as you apply for college, scholarships, internships, or employment. We need to make our schools free from sexual harassment for girls and boys. I hope that AAUW’s new research report, Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment at School, inspires all of us to create a culture of respect in our schools and communities to keep girls and boys safe. In the meantime, I’m preparing my younger daughter and son for the road ahead.

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