Sexual harassment is an issue that happens ubiquitously in schools committed verbally or physically with anyone as victim regardless of gender. With the occurrence of such crime, this study assessed the students’ perception on sexual harassment, physical, verbal or mixed, the legal methodologies and policy employed by the concerned schools in implementing the different programs and instructions, and the characterization of the nature of work and the working conditions of different participating institutions. This study utilized descriptive-quantitative research design using a purposive sampling technique. Data were analyzed using frequency and percentage, and average weighted mean. Results disclosed that students unanimously agree on sexual harassment in various forms but apparently not aware verbal and non-verbal acts. The results further showed that students rarely get educational information about sexual harassment from their parents and institutions but noted the importance of faculty, administration, and student cooperation to prevent it. Hence, there are students who experienced incidents of sexual harassment in school premises but majority of them did not report it due to fear and culture of victim blaming. Similarly, the majority of the respondents confirm there are no programs, regulations, and instrumentalities to prevent sexual harassment in their school. With the alarming results, the study developed a training module to be implemented as an extension project to capacitate students and help institutions draft a mechanism in handling such cases.
sexual harassment, high school, sexual harassment in schools, student awareness
Gelbert A. Llanto. Corresponding author. Instructor I, Laguna State Polytechnic University- San Pablo City Campus. Corresponding email: gelbert.llanto@lspu.edu.ph
Jennifer A. Valdez. Instructor I, Laguna State Polytechnic University- San Pablo City Campus.
Richie Rosas Velasquez. Instructor I, Laguna State Polytechnic University- San Pablo City Campus.
Alexander, M. L. S. (2020). Lived Experiences of Sexual Violence in Tondo, Manila, Philippines Envisioning Change Through Body Mapping (Doctoral dissertation, Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina).
Apriliana, I. P. A. (2018). The Role of School Counsellor to Handling Student Sexual Harassment Behavior in the School. International Journal of Research in Counseling and Education, 2(1), 6-12.
BARONIA, J. M. B. (2020). Perception of Elementary School Heads and Teachers on Child Protection Policy in Private Schools in Tanauan City Division. IOER International Multidisciplinary Research Journal, 2(2), 35-45.
Bendixen, M., Daveronis, J., & Kennair, L. E. O. (2018). The effects of non-physical peer sexual harassment on high school students’ psychological well-being in Norway: Consistent and stable findings across studies. International journal of public health, 63(1), 3-11.
Binder, R., Garcia, P., Johnson, B., & Fuentes-Afflick, E. (2018). Sexual harassment in medical schools: the challenge of covert retaliation as a barrier to reporting. Academic Medicine, 93(12), 1770-1773.
Budden, L. M., Birks, M., Cant, R., Bagley, T., & Park, T. (2017). Australian nursing students’ experience of bullying and/or harassment during clinical placement. Collegian, 24(2), 125-133.
Cantalupo, N. C. (2019). And even more of us are brave: intersectionality & sexual harassment of women students of color. Harv. Women’s LJ, 42, 1.
Edgar, C. (2020). A Preponderance of the Evidence: The Appropriate Standard in Title IX Sexual Harassment Proceedings. Admin. L. Rev. Accord, 6, 85.
Gabriel, A. G. (2017). Drawing the Demarcation Line: An Analysis of Sexual Harassment in Selected Learning Institutions in Nueva Ecija, Philippines Using Blumer’s Interactionism Model. Open Access Library Journal, 4(01), 1.
Gruber, J., & Fineran, S. (2016). Sexual harassment, bullying, and school outcomes for high school girls and boys. Violence Against Women, 22(1), 112-133.
Hand, J. Z., & Sanchez, L. (2000). Badgering or bantering? Gender differences in experience of, and reactions to, sexual harassment among US high school students. Gender & Society, 14(6), 718-746.
Hill, C., & Silva, E. (2005). Drawing the line: Sexual harassment on campus. American Association of University Women Educational Foundation, 1111 Sixteenth St. NW, Washington, DC 20036.
Jenner, S. C., Djermester, P., & Oertelt-Prigione, S. (2020). Prevention strategies for sexual harassment in academic medicine: a qualitative study. Journal of interpersonal violence, 0886260520903130.
Karami, A., White, C. N., Ford, K., Swan, S., & Spinel, M. Y. (2020). Unwanted advances in higher education: Uncovering sexual harassment experiences in academia with text mining. Information Processing & Management, 57(2), 102167.
Khan, M. B. U., & Shathi, I. J. (2018). Nature of Sexual Harassment Against the Female Students of Bangladesh: A Cross-Sectional Study in Tangail Municipality. International Journal of Social and Administrative Sciences, 3(2), 73-82.
Li, J., & Craig, W. M. (2020). Adolescent sexual harassment, shame, and depression: do experiences of witnessing harassment matter? The Journal of Early Adolescence, 40(5), 712-737.
Lodico, N., Spaulding, D., & Voegtle, K. (2006). Methods of Educational Research. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
López, V., García-Quiroga, M., Benbenishty, R., González, L., Squicciarini, A. M., & Sánchez, P. (2020). Sexual harassment by peers in Chilean schools. Child abuse & neglect, 107, 104602.
Magaji, A. B., Ikhide, J. E., Timur, A. T., & Timur, S. (2019, September). Sexual Harassment in Higher Education: Students’ Perceptions and Attitudes. In Global Joint Conference on Industrial Engineering and Its Application Areas (pp. 40-50). Springer, Cham.
Mateo-Babiano, I. B., Gaabucayan-Napalang, M. S., & Abuzo, A. (2020). Manila, Philippines. In Transit Crime and Sexual Violence in Cities (pp. 63-71). Routledge.
Miller Jr, E. M., & Mondschein, E. S. (2017). Sexual harassment and bullying: similar, but not the same. What school officials need to know. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 90(5-6), 191-197.
Pellegrini, A. D. (2002). Bullying, victimization, and sexual harassment during the transition to middle school. Educational psychologist, 37(3), 151-163.
Phillips, S. P., Webber, J., Imbeau, S., Quaife, T., Hagan, D., Maar, M., & Abourbih, J. (2019). Sexual harassment of Canadian medical students: a national survey. EClinicalMedicine, 7, 15-20.
Ponmalar, N. A. (2017). The influence of individual and organisational factors on the intention to report sexual harassment/Ponmalar N Alagappar (Doctoral dissertation, University of Malaya).
Rinehart, S. J., & Espelage, D. L. (2016). A multilevel analysis of school climate, homophobic name-calling, and sexual harassment victimization/perpetration among middle school youth. Psychology of Violence, 6(2), 213.
Rolfe, S. M., & Schroeder, R. D. (2020). “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me”: Verbal sexual harassment among middle school students. Journal of interpersonal violence, 35(17-18), 3462-3486.
Sales, J., & Krause, K. (2017). Schools must include faculty and staff in sexual violence prevention efforts. Journal of American college health, 65(8), 585-587.
Smith, S. G., Zhang, X., Basile, K. C., Merrick, M. T., Wang, J., Kresnow, M. J., & Chen, J. (2018). The national intimate partner and sexual violence survey: 2015 data brief–updated release.
Thapalia, R., Dhungana, R. R., Adhikari, S. K., & Pandey, A. R. (2019). Understanding, experience and response to sexual harassment among the female students: a mixed method study. Journal of Nepal Health Research Council, 17(4), 424-30.
Wolff, J. M., Rospenda, K. M., & Colaneri, A. S. (2017). Sexual harassment, psychological distress, and problematic drinking behavior among college students: An examination of reciprocal causal relations. The Journal of Sex Research, 54(3), 362-373.
Cite this article:
Llanto, G.A., Valdez, J.A. & Velasquez, R.R. (2023). Context of sexual harassment among junior and senior high school students. International Review of Social Sciences Research, 3 (1), 125-141. https://doi.org/10.53378/352973
License:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) International License.
