Sexual Harassment in Educational Settings: Teachers as Victims and the Gendered Nature of the Problem

Sexual harassment and sexual violence in educational settings do not only target students but also teachers - or female staff in general. Men and boys are consistently found to be the main perpetruatros of sexual harassment and sexual violence which is linked to male ideas around gender and masculinity playing a crucial role. In addition, online pornography creates a "misguided representation" of individuals and sexual relationships, which again has an impact on young men and boys in particular. There is, in fact, an association between regular access to online pornography and violent sexual behaviour. Also, young men who use pornography are more likely to show negative attitudes to gender equality. Easy access to porn is said to have a "very corrosive impact within schools". 

Sending unwanted hardcore pornographic or nude images to girls in the corridor or to other students in class are some of the problems cited. According to a piece of research on nude image sharing, the scale of the problem is enormous and, at times, more than 5.000 responses is possible. The problem is difficult to tackle since the behaviour is also happening outside the school gates, on young people's mobile phones. 

One major challenge is the combination of two trends taking place at the same time: the mainstreaming of hardcore pornography and the digital revolution of the social world from which new kinds of digital-based abuse and violence emerge. This kind of abuse is also targeting teachers. One in twenty of the teachers taking part in a poll said that the misogyny they had experienced had been posted on social media. The posts showed the teachers' faces superimposed on pornographic images or upskirt pictures of teachers (via).

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photograph by Joseph Szabo (Barbara, 1977) via