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Sexual Harassment What All School Faculty and Staff Should Know about Sexual Harassment in School

Sexual Harassment What All School Faculty and Staff Should Know about Sexual Harassment in School. ©2008 Lindsay Settles. Learner Objectives. Participants in this seminar will be able to: offer several reasons why students are perpetrators of sexual harassment,

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Sexual Harassment What All School Faculty and Staff Should Know about Sexual Harassment in School

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  1. Sexual HarassmentWhat All School Faculty and Staff Should Know about Sexual Harassment in School ©2008 Lindsay Settles

  2. Learner Objectives Participants in this seminar will be able to: • offer several reasons why students are perpetrators of sexual harassment, • offer several reasons why this phenomenon has become so pervasive, • respond effectively to instances of sexual harassment, and • discern “play” from sexual harassment.

  3. AGENDA: • Explore behaviors that qualify as sexual harassment • Explain WHY sexual harassment awareness is crucial • Complete exercises that will allow you to explore a case study and provide suggestions on how to approach such a case

  4. A Case IllustrationAllison Allison is a fifth grade student who further is along in her physical development than most of her female peers. She appears to have no problems socializing with her female peers but seems to put a lot of effort into distancing herself from the males. Several times, Allison’s teacher, Ms. Dillon, has overheard the boys make hurtful comments about the size of Allison’s breasts and the width of her hips. Ms. Dillon notices that Allison clams up when the boys bring attention to her body and very rarely defends herself. Ms. Dillon also notices that Allison’s daily baggy outfits are progressively failing to cover up her curves and her school performance is beginning to suffer. She is befuddled about how to handle Allison’s situation. She struggles with whether she should bring attention to the situation and risk embarrassing Allison even further or if she should take Allison’s lead and ignore it the best she can, in an attempt to make light of the situation.

  5. WHAT? Two types: “quid pro quo” and “hostile environment” • Quid pro quo occurs between a school employee and a student. • Hostile environment can occur between a student and a school official, another student, or even a school visitor. (We will be focusing on Hostile Environment Harassment.)

  6. Hostile Environment • “Hostile environment occurs when unwelcome sexually harassing conduct is so severe, persistent, or pervasive that it affects a student’s ability to participate in or benefit from an education program or activity, or creates an intimidating, threatening or abusive educational environment” (Office for Civil Rights, 2005). • Causing this type of environment for a child is a major violation as it is every child’s right to be educated in a safe environment.

  7. Hostile Environment (Cont’d) • Victims report being harassed in all parts of the school including the busses, parking lots, playground, classrooms, hallways, bathrooms, and cafeterias (Fineran & Bolen, 2006). • Fear causes hostile environments! Many girls report not wanting to go to school at all because of fear provoked by threats of future contacts (Whealin et al., 2007).

  8. For adolescent girls: Sexual teasing, jokes, or remarks Uninvited sexual questions Unwanted physical contact Unwanted sexual comments For adolescent boys: Unwanted telephone calls Pressure to go on dates Sexual advances Unwanted love letters and notes Hostile EnvironmentTypes of harassment that cause hostile environments (Roscoe, 1994)

  9. More Examples of Behaviors that ALWAYS Qualify as Sexual Harassment:* • Sexual Advances • Touching of a Sexual Nature • Graffiti of a Sexual Nature • Displaying/distributing sexually explicit drawings and pictures • Sexual (Dirty) jokes • Pressure for sexual favors • Spreading rumors about other students’ sexual activities • Talking about one’s sexuality or sexual activity in front of others *Cited from Office for Civil Rights, 2005

  10. Assume it is happening in YOUR classroom • Findings show 99% of females and 98% of males report experiencing unwanted sexual attention (Whealin, et al, 2002). • 72% of males and 91% of females report unwanted sexual behaviors (Whealin, et al, 2002). • Anyone can be a perpetrator or victim…no matter what race, age, or gender. • Remember that if you pick any girl in your classroom, chances are a peer has sexually harassed her.

  11. How do you identify sexual harassment? • The easiest way to realize sexual harassment is a problem in your school is simply realizing when you witness it. It is very easy to want to categorize sexual harassment as “harmless, kid stuff” when you do not want to deal with the hassle of taking note of sexual harassment. Any time there is a negative reaction from a student, be sure to acknowledge it and take action.

  12. More signs…. Other, less obvious signs this may be a problem include: • students who are suddenly avoiding certain students they were friendly with before. • sudden, inexplicable drop in school attendance or performance. • a girl’s sudden transformation to wearing overly baggy clothes. • overreacting to another student’s harmless touch, such as a touch on the back to get his or her attention.

  13. Related Problems As a result of being sexually harassed, students may: • avoid coming to school all together to avoid the perpetrators. • become perpetrators. The phenomenon can be cyclical where students begin to victimize others to make themselves feel better about being a victim or as a form of revenge (Fineran & Bolen, 2006). • have a drop in confidence in their ability to do schoolwork, especially for female victims (Fogarty, 2006).

  14. physical maturity in girls, boys who do not have the typical masculine gender characteristics, girls’ history of family victimization, and girls’ history of delinquency. Contributing FactorsThe following are risk factors for being a victim of sexual harassment:

  15. past victimization by peers -- victims often retaliate by becoming perpetrators. males’ past victimization from family. Contributing FactorsThe following are risk factors for being a perpetrator of sexual harassment:

  16. WHAT NOT TO DO! Never ignore the victim’s negative reaction or tell the victim that the perpetrator was just joking.

  17. WHAT NOT TO DO! Students complain that they were harassed right in front of a teacher and the adult did nothing to stop it… do not be one of these teachers.

  18. WHAT NOT TO DO! Never assume it is best to ignore a behavior in an attempt to avoid embarrassment for the students.

  19. WHAT NOT TO DO! Avoid making an example of students involved in sexual harassment. Be sure to always address problems privately.

  20. Why is this behavior so pervasive? • Popular media is full of sexuality aimed at younger viewers. • Girls are encouraged to dress inappropriately with low-cut tops and too-tight clothing. • Boys are often a target if they can not claim some type of sexual experience or knowledge. • Sex is everywhere, on the internet, on television, in magazines, etc…kids become inundated with it and it will undoubtedly make it into your classroom.

  21. Why is this so important?VICTIMS CAN HAVE SEVERE OUTCOMES: • Short-term effects for girls include embarrassment, anger, and low self-esteem (Whealin, 2002; Timmerman, 2004). • Girls tend to internalize negative concepts if they hear them repeatedly. Even when they are untrue, they begin to believe negative things about themselves (Whealin, 2002). • Unwanted sexual attention during childhood often leads to poor self-concepts in women and low levels of confidence (Whealin, 2002).

  22. Why is this so important?VICTIMS CAN HAVE SEVERE OUTCOMES: • Comments made to girls about their bodies, even complimentary, have a potential to be harmful to a girl’s psyche. • The most severe and frightening outcome is a possibility of suicide. There is a greater potential for frequent harassment victims to attempt suicide when compared to those with no history of being harassed.

  23. What You Can Do? Make it clear in your schools and classrooms that any behavior that qualifies as sexual harassment is never tolerable…ever!

  24. What You Can Do? Make your no-tolerance stance on sexual harassment a general policy that is known from the beginning ….Present this rule to your students the same way you would present your policies on weapons and violence.

  25. What You Can Do? • Teach your students healthy ways to express their romantic interests in other students. While it may seem like a sensitive subject, it is nowhere near as sensitive as discussing why they behaved in a manner that may be punishable by law. • Make sure students know that it is okay and beneficial to them to report if they are victims of harassment. Retaliating by harassing others will only make things worse!

  26. Helpful Resources For You Please take some time to review these resources. They provide extremely helpful information for school staff, parents and students. • http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/sexharassresources.html • A part of the Office for Civil Rights webpage, this link provides answers to frequently asked questions, provides checklists, and provides other links that can also be resourceful. • http://www.blr.com • The Business and Legal Reports website has resources in “plain English” that will help you deal with many issues, including one specifically for sexual harassment in the school.

  27. Helpful Resources For You • http://www.ehow.com/how_2140065_educate-children-sexual-harassment.html • This link is to eHow.com’s article regarding how to educate kids about sexual harassment. It provides very helpful systematic instructions about how to talk to your kids. • http://school.discoveryeducation.com/lessonplans/programs/sexualharassment/ • This link takes you to a complete lesson plan for sexual harassment including objectives, materials, suggested readings and discussion questions.

  28. Helpful Resources For You • http://www.siecus.org/pubs/biblio/bibs0022.html • This will take you to an annotated bibliography of sources and manuals for dealing with sexual harassment in schools. • http://www.equalrights.org/publications/kyr/shschool.asp. • This link will take you to the Equal Rights Advocates webpage. It gives detailed legal descriptions of sexual harassment as well as a list of personal rights and legal resources.

  29. References • Fineran, S. & Bolen, R.M. (2006). Risk factors for peer sexual harassment in schools. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 21 1169-1190. • Office for Civil Rights, (2005, March 15). Sexual harassment: it's not academic. Retrieved February 25, 2008, from U.S. Department of Education's ED.gov Web site: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/ocrshpam.html. • Timmerman, G. (2004). Adolescents’ psychological health and experiences with unwanted sexual behavior at school. Adolescence, 39 (156) 817-25. • Whealin, J.M. (2002). Women’s report of unwanted sexual attention during childhood. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 11 (1) 75-93.

  30. Contact Information Lindsay Settles linsettles@yahoo.com

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