To identify the problem, we created a survey loosely based on a survey conducted by Girls For Gender Equity (GGE), which we came across in the book titled, Hey, Shorty: A Guide to Combating Sexual Harassment and Violence in Schools and on the Streets. The questions in our survey ranged from “Have you ever witnessed or experienced sexual violence on campus or in the surrounding neighborhood” to “ What can the community do to help solve this problem, if there is a problem.” In order to have an accurate representation, we held interactive presentations in our library. We invited teachers of different grade levels to bring their classes down for our presentation. There we offered students information on sexual violence and everything that encompasses the topic including Title IX. After our presentation, we asked if they wish to voluntarily participate in the survey. In order to reach a wider scope, we had our members take multiple IPADs outside during lunch for a couple weeks and ask students if they’d like to participate.
We gave the survey to all genders and grades and even asked teachers to take the survey. There are about 1,200 students at Maywood Academy High School and due to the nature of our survey, we were only able to receive 129 responses, providing us with a random sample from all of our school’s demographics. In our survey responses break down, from the 129 people, 63.6% were female, 33.3% were male and 3.1% identified as other. Further, 92% identified as Hispanic or Latino. Most responses came from high school seniors. From our sample, 70.5% said that they had never experienced sexual harassment in school, while 50.6% said it wasn’t a problem at school. On the contrary, the fact that there are a percentage of people who say the opposite, implies that there is a problem. The fact that there are responses of actually experiencing sexual assault is a problem because school is supposed to be a safe place for every student.
From the 30.5% that said they had experienced some form of sexual harassment, 10.9% experiences sexual harassment on a daily basis. A DAILY BASIS. The most common, 64.3 %, type of sexual harassment at our school is “ sexual teasing, jokes, (for example calling someone a “slut” or “fag”).” We also received responses of inappropriate touching (52.7%), Pressure for sexual activity (25.6%) forced sexual activity (7%). According to our survey, most perpetrators are male students, while female students also taking part in harassment. Our survey also showed that female students are more likely to be harassed, in places such as the locker room, classrooms, hallway, staircases and outside of school.
Contrast, according the our survey, there is a stronger sense of a problem in our community, with 60.5% of responses stating that there is a problem of sexual harassment. 45% of responders stated that they have been sexually harassed. 14% of those experience some form of sexual harassment on a daily basis. The most common form of sexual harassment in the neighborhood is “whistles, cat calls or yells in a sexual manner” 55.8% from adult males, young males and teenage males, with females as the primary target.
However, despite these responses, 90.5% of students have NEVER reported sexual harassment in their school and 91.5% have NEVER reported sexual assault in their community, correlating to a problem of the lack of reporting. People are experiencing and witnessing sexual harassment but hardly anyone is reporting it to the proper authorities. Most problematic, 21.6% of students simply don’t know how, 20.7% have never seen a staff member do something about it, and 6.5% have been ignored by staff members. This underscores the problem in our school and community. Our project focuses on wanting to educate our students on what to do when they are faced in this situation. We want to ensure that they will be taken seriously and not ignored by the authority because according to our survey, students want something more thoroughly done to ensure the safety of students from sexual harassment in the school and surrounding community.
We gave the survey to all genders and grades and even asked teachers to take the survey. There are about 1,200 students at Maywood Academy High School and due to the nature of our survey, we were only able to receive 129 responses, providing us with a random sample from all of our school’s demographics. In our survey responses break down, from the 129 people, 63.6% were female, 33.3% were male and 3.1% identified as other. Further, 92% identified as Hispanic or Latino. Most responses came from high school seniors. From our sample, 70.5% said that they had never experienced sexual harassment in school, while 50.6% said it wasn’t a problem at school. On the contrary, the fact that there are a percentage of people who say the opposite, implies that there is a problem. The fact that there are responses of actually experiencing sexual assault is a problem because school is supposed to be a safe place for every student.
From the 30.5% that said they had experienced some form of sexual harassment, 10.9% experiences sexual harassment on a daily basis. A DAILY BASIS. The most common, 64.3 %, type of sexual harassment at our school is “ sexual teasing, jokes, (for example calling someone a “slut” or “fag”).” We also received responses of inappropriate touching (52.7%), Pressure for sexual activity (25.6%) forced sexual activity (7%). According to our survey, most perpetrators are male students, while female students also taking part in harassment. Our survey also showed that female students are more likely to be harassed, in places such as the locker room, classrooms, hallway, staircases and outside of school.
Contrast, according the our survey, there is a stronger sense of a problem in our community, with 60.5% of responses stating that there is a problem of sexual harassment. 45% of responders stated that they have been sexually harassed. 14% of those experience some form of sexual harassment on a daily basis. The most common form of sexual harassment in the neighborhood is “whistles, cat calls or yells in a sexual manner” 55.8% from adult males, young males and teenage males, with females as the primary target.
However, despite these responses, 90.5% of students have NEVER reported sexual harassment in their school and 91.5% have NEVER reported sexual assault in their community, correlating to a problem of the lack of reporting. People are experiencing and witnessing sexual harassment but hardly anyone is reporting it to the proper authorities. Most problematic, 21.6% of students simply don’t know how, 20.7% have never seen a staff member do something about it, and 6.5% have been ignored by staff members. This underscores the problem in our school and community. Our project focuses on wanting to educate our students on what to do when they are faced in this situation. We want to ensure that they will be taken seriously and not ignored by the authority because according to our survey, students want something more thoroughly done to ensure the safety of students from sexual harassment in the school and surrounding community.