According to a survey by the American Association of University Women, a nonprofit research organization, which used a broad (and confusing) definition of sexual harassment — "unwelcome sexual behavior that takes place in person or electronically."
Forty-four percent of students said they were harassed "in person" — being subjected to unwelcome comments or jokes, inappropriate touching or sexual intimidation — and 30 percent reported online harassment, like receiving unwelcome comments, jokes or pictures through texts, e-mail, Facebook and other tools, or having sexual rumors, information or pictures spread about them.
I'm guessing that the difference between 44% and 100% is the measure of
unwelcomeness. The question included
mere comments and jokes. Wouldn't nearly all middle school kids hear such things? The definition does not seem to be limited to comments and jokes that
target the individual who answers yes or that persist after the individual has voiced her lack of receptiveness.
"I was called a whore because I have many friends that are boys," one ninth-grade girl was quoted as saying. An eighth-grade boy, meanwhile, reported, "They spread rumors I was gay because I played on the basketball team."
These are the comments selected for quoting, so presumably much of the reported harassment is less compelling than that. And yet this sounds like run-of-the-mill teasing. It's not very nice, but isn't it normal childish? I think it's a little funny that both those quotes include points of
pride. The girl has a lot of boyfriends. The boy is on the basketball team. It sounds like their "harassers" are jealous and they know it.
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