Book Description

This study investigates secondary school students' experiences of sexual harassment--and all the bullying, teasing, and touching it entails--and compares the results with those of the 1993 study "Hostile Hallways: The AAUW Survey on Sexual Harassment in America's Schools." Topics in the survey include students' knowledge and awareness of sexual harassment, personal experiences with sexual harassment in their school lives, and the emotional and behavioral impact of these experiences. A nationally representative sample of 2064 public school students in 8th through 11th grades was interviewed. Using self-administered questionnaires, 1559 students were surveyed during an English class, and 505 students were surveyed online. Students' answers were analyzed, where possible, to identify any difference by gender, race/ethnicity, grade level, and area of school. As in 1993, nearly all students say they know what sexual harassment is, and they provided their own definitions when asked. Major findings reveal the following: significant numbers of students are afraid of being hurt or bothered in their school lives; sexual harassment is widespread in school life; school sexual harassment has a negative impact on students' emotional and educational lives; students today are more likely than those in 1993 to say their schools have a policy or distribute literature on sexual harassment; nearly all students surveyed know what sexual harassment is; the most upsetting examples of sexual harassment in school life involve speech as well as actions; a sizeable minority of students reports high levels of sexual harassment in school; most experiences involve students harassing students, although many experiences involve school adults harassing students; and slightly more than half (54%) of students say they have sexually harassed someone during their school lives. Contains 29 figures and an afterword. Appended is the research methodology with additional figures. (BT)