RESEARCH General Education

CHILD BEHAVIOR
Sexual harassment by schoolchildren should be seen in social context

Craig Chamberlain, Education Editor
(217) 333-2894; cdchambe@uiuc.edu

11/1/02

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Does sexual harassment among classmates have its roots in elementary school? Is it really about sex or about gaining power and status among peers? Could sexual harassment in schools be a "training ground" for later domestic violence?

Two professors at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Philip Rodkin in educational psychology, and Karla Fischer in law, are asking those questions and others in a paper to be published in an upcoming special issue of the Journal of Applied School Psychology: "Sexual Harassment and the Cultures of Childhood: Developmental, Domestic Violence, and Legal Perspectives."

The article also will appear in the upcoming "Handbook of Prevention and Intervention in Peer Harassment, Victimization, and Bullying" (edited by Elias, Zins and Maher; Haworth Press).

In the article, Rodkin and Fischer draw on the work of researchers to suggest that school personnel should look beyond the details of a given act of harassment and see the context in which it occurs.

"School personnel need to reconceptualize how they think about what sexual harassment is, and not just so much that it’s about specific behaviors – touching here or touching there," said Fischer, who specializes in domestic violence. "It’s not just about the act, but it’s what’s driving the act, and whether or not that act is, in effect, enhancing the person’s power, status and control over other kids."

Rodkin and Fischer begin their article by citing a 2001 report, "Hostile Hallways: Bullying, Teasing, and Sexual Harassment in School," published by the American Association of University Women. In it, four out of five eighth- through 11th-graders said they had experienced some form of sexual harassment in their school lives, and many before sixth grade.

Sexual harassment was defined in the report as "unwanted and unwelcome sexual behavior that interferes with your life."

The authors suggest that boys’ harassment of girls may have its roots in the stark gender segregation of the elementary years and animosity between the groups that grows from that. They suggest that harassment "emerges from and can be elicited by a climate of tense, unequal social relations between groups of boys and groups of girls beginning in middle childhood."

Contrary to some perceptions, sexual harassment often occurs in groups and in public, and involves children popular among their peers, not just social outcasts, Rodkin said. A given incident may seem minor, such as pulling a pony tail or snapping a bra strap, but it may be part of a pattern with serious consequences.

Fischer noted there are parallels with domestic violence, which often begins with minor incidents and then builds. And as in domestic violence, victims often react passively and then restrict their behavior, such as talking less in class, she said. In many cases, "it’s as if girls shrink up and become smaller," Fischer said. "And that’s what happens to domestic violence victims as well."