“1 in 6 boys and 1 in 4 girls are sexually abused before the age of 18.” “35.5% of sexual assaults occur when the victim is between the ages of 12 and 17.” “Approximately 1.8 million adolescents in the U.S. have been the victims of sexual assault.”

These statistics on sexual harassment are just a small portion of everyday life on a high school campus.

Sexual harassment is defined as “unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature.”
List provided by http://www.feminist.org/

“Any of the following unwanted behavior may constitute sexual harassment:”

• leering
• wolf whistles
• discussion of one’s partner’s sexual inadequacies
• sexual innuendo
• comments about women’s bodies
• ‘accidentally’ brushing sexual parts of the body
• lewd & threatening letters
• tales of sexual exploitation
• graphic descriptions of pornography
• pressure for dates
• sexually explicit gestures
• unwelcome touching and hugging
• sexual sneak attacks, (grabbing)
• sexist and insulting graffiti
• demanding, “Hey, baby, give me a smile”
• inappropriate invitations
• sexist jokes and cartoons
• hostile put-downs of women
• exaggerated, mocking ‘courtesy’
• public humiliation
• obscene phone calls
• inappropriate gifts
• hooting, sucking, lip-smacking, & animal noises
• pressing or rubbing up against the victim
• sexual assault
• soliciting sexual services
• stalking
• leaning over , invading a person’s space
• indecent exposure

The increase of this issue is now considered the “norm” or even typical teenage behavior to most. Many victims fail to recognize it due to the ongoing sexual nature and culture on campus. Its simply “flirting” and “harmless jokes.” As high school students, many of course are used to crude humor, gossiping and spreading rumors of one’s sexual encounters, and inadequacies or the outbreak of someone’s “leaked pics”. High schoolers are indeed cruel when it comes to sexual conduct.

Explicit gestures, stories of exploitation,cyber bullying, slut shaming sums up majority of the demeaning behavior taking place on campuses. The amount of action from school officials and administrators to educate and prevent sexual harassment is almost nonexistent. The topic seems to be avoided and labeled as an “uncomfortable discussion” for students. The discussion of sexual harassment needs to happen in order to assure the safety and well being of students on campus.
Students who are victims usually do not report incidents due to the belief that “it isn’t a big deal” or the fear of being blamed. Sexual harassment should never in any case or form be taken lightly. It is more than just a big deal. Students shouldn’t have to fear asking for help. It’s a sickening thought to know that students are so use to this mistreatment that they don’t deem it as a form of harassment worthy of reporting.

If the rise in sexual harassment is not emphasized as an issue it will continue to get worse. Proof is in the countless incidents across the U.S.
List provided by http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ “What Should High Schools Do? 44 Percent of Sexual Assaults Happen Before College.”

• Wichita police confirmed that three Wichita Heights High School students were charged with raping a girl, an act that was also filmed.
• A case in Venice Beach “involved a group of male students working together to pressure girls into having sex.” Fourteen boys have been accused of sex crimes.
• Students at an Oklahoma high school protested their school’s response to the bullying of three classmates who alleged raped by the same person.
• A teenage boy was convicted of raping a 15-year old girl in a school hallway in Salisbury, Maryland while classmates and teachers went through first period classes.
• A 15-year old boy left in critical condition after being gang-raped by a group of men and teenage boys being held in “Christian County Jail” Kentucky.
• A 14-year old special needs student, a girl, was used by a teaching assistant as “bait,” to entrap a sexual predator, an older student. He sodomized her. Prior episodes indicating that he was dangerous could not be punished because he had not been “caught in the act.”
  14-year-old Daisy Coleman described her rape (in which she was plied deliberately with alcohol, assaulted and left outside in the snow, half dressed) and its after effect.
• The 2012 Steubenville assault, in which people joked about a “Rape Crew,” and watched a girl be dragged around and violated, always looms large.
• In 2011, more than 20 boys and men participated in the months long rapes of an 11-year-old girl in Texas, after which a defense attorney actually suggested she “lured them into her web.” Because that’s how misogyny rolls.
• That 2011 case may seem particularly horrific, but isn’t as rare as people would like to think. In addition, teenage people with disabilities, twice as likely to be assaulted, are frequently targeted for rape and gang rape in high school, often in circumstances that bear uncanny resemblance to the 1993 Glenn Ridge rape. In 2013, up to 25 boys and men lured a 13-year old special needs student into a building and assaulted her for hours, photographing part of the attack. June 27 2015, an 18-year old was arrested in the rape of an 18-year old high school senior with impaired mental capabilities.

Sexual harassment is happening on campus. After asking ten students here at Pitman, five girls and five boys, on whether or not they have experienced sexaul harrasment the results were not surpising. All five girls admitted to experiencing sexual harassment more than once, and three out of the five boys admitted to harassment as well.
Awareness needs to be raised. It could be happening to your friend, your sibling, daughter/son or even student. Take a moment and reflect. Educate, inform and offer help. Sexual harassment stops here.
https://www.nsopw.gov/en-US/Education/FactsStatistics?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/high-school-notes/2011/11/09/survey-nearly-half-of-students-sexually-harassed-in-school

http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-tonight/articles/2014/11/14/by-the-numbers-sexualviolenceinhighschool.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/report-sexual-harassment-common-in-schools/2011/11/07/gIQA0byEvM_blog.html

http://www.feminist.org/911/harasswhatdo.html

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fy850

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/soraya-chemaly/what-should-high-schools-do-44-percent-of-sexual-assaults-happen-before-college_b_7090492.html