Submitted by Greg Nilson on Mon, 11/28/2011 - 11:23
Gone are the days when all you have to worry about is your son or daughter forgetting their homework or a practical joke or two being done in the hallways.
Today, a new and pervasive danger fills our school hallways: Sexual harassment.
While bullying and cyber-bullying has taken center stage these days in the headlines and lead stories, sexual harassment is more common than ever in American schools.
Sexual harassment has been found to be very common at every stage at every level of education. Recent statistics say that nearly 80% of children in elementary school will experience some level of sexual or verbal harassment by the time they leave elementary school. Now look at physical sexual harrassment -- yes, we said "physical". 6 out of ten children by the time they leave high school will experience some type of physical sexual harassment. The numbers of course vary from survey to survey, but all conclude the occurrence and frequency is high.
Maybe one of your children will be effected.
As startling as the numbers are, anyone who has spent time in high school or remember back to their high school days can recall plenty of incidents of inappropriate joking, teasing, and rumors. It turns out that the situation has only gotten worse, and with the internet a whole new dimension has made itself available: social networking sites, like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and others.
A survey by the American Association of University Women on over 2000 high school girls found some startling results. Nearly 85% of girls in the survey had been sexually harassed. The study also pointed out the pervasiveness of sexual harassment on all levels by just about everybody, including teacher to teacher, student to teacher, boy to girl, and girl to boy. It seemed that everyone had a problem being harassed and harassing. Most experts say the trend will continue if there is not comprehensive education starting really young and during the primary grade ages.
In another more recent study by the AAUW, the numbers were about the same – high, very high. The study reported by the New York Times this month surveyed 1,965 students. About 56% of girls had reported being sexually harassed (compared to 40% for boys). Boys more often than girls were the ones doing the harassing.
Sexual harassment is “so pervasive, and almost a normal part of the school day,” said the director of the study, Catherine Hill. The study found the harassment rears its ugly head in several ways, not just “in person.” Being the target of wanted sexual jokes, inappropriate touching, receiving unwanted photos through texts, emails, or Facebook. In addition, having rumors being spread about them were especially hurtful.
The survey asked what was the type of harassment that had the biggest effect on them. A majority of boys said that being called gay was particularly bothersome. For girls, it was having someone tell a sexual joke about them that was particularly devastating.
Well, it goes without mentioning that such events would have a negative effect on children. But exactly how is the interesting part of the story. Nearly 37% of girls didn’t feel or want to back to school after being harassed (compared to 25% of boys). Nearly 22% of the girls surveyed stated that they had trouble sleeping (compared that to 14% for boys). Nearly 37% of girls felt sick to their stomach with the harassment (compared to 21%) for boys.
Interestingly, only half surveyed said they did something about it. The other half who answered the survey, simply brushed it aside. While, nearly 9% stated that they reported the incident to an adult at school.
With these consistent numbers, it would seem that our schools are pumping out scholars and young sexual predators. Or could it all be blown out of proportion?
There was a gang rape outside a Sacramento high school in 2009 by a group of teens on a young teen age girl while the homecoming dance took place a short distance away.
Is it getting worse for today's teens? If so, what does that mean for the next generation -- what are we "evolving" into? Evil? How can America change what seems to be a run away freight train with internet pornography, and a society's desire for more, and more sex? Surely it's going to spill into our public schools. Each generation can blame the previous generation for not standing up and putting a stop to this.
It's sick that this is
It's sick that this is happening. It's starting at an earlier and earlier age, too. Not only is it sick that we have to worry about our kids being sexually harassed, it's just plain sad. To make matters worse, we have a generation of kids that feel as though they can't go to trusted adults with this information. They feel as though it would be admitting defeat. And at that high school age, admitting defeat is the last resort these days.
Not only do we have a generation of kids that feel as though they have no one to confide in, we're raising a generation of kids that believe it's okay for this to be happening. When something isn't done to put an end to harassment, then it's as if we're telling these kids that it's okay to harass and that there's nothing that can be done if they're getting harassed. With everything out there in today's media being related to sex, what more could we expect?