
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 2, 1993                   TAG: 9306020109
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From The Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

SURVEY: MOST STUDENTS SUFFER IN-SCHOOL SEXUAL HARASSMENT

Four out of five teens say they have been sexually harassed at school - victims of conduct ranging from rumormongering to assault, according to a survey of eighth- through 11th-graders.

The national study of 1,600 students found that harassment frequently starts in elementary school, that few of the victims ever report it and that the emotional impact, particularly on girls, is serious and widespread.

More than one in 10 of those surveyed reported being forced by either fellow students or adults to engage in sexual conduct beyond kissing. Thirteen percent of girls and 9 percent of boys said they had experienced this unwelcome sexual behavior.

"Ignoring sexual harassment in schools in effect condones it," Sharon Schuster, president of the American Association of University Women, said in a statement accompanying the study results.

Nearly one-quarter of girls who reported harassment said incidents had caused them to stay home from school or cut class. Others said it hurt their grades and hindered their ability to concentrate on their work. Twenty-four percent said the experience had made them fearful; 39 percent said they had been "very upset."

For others, however, unwanted sexual advances are an accepted part of school life.

Sixty-six percent of the boys and 52 percent of the girls admitted sexually harassing other students and 92 percent of those boys and 98 percent of those girls say they have been victims of harassment themselves.

When asked why they do it, 41 percent of the boys and 31 percent of the girls responded: "It's just a part of school life/A lot of people do it/It's no big deal."

One 14-year-old boy said: "People do this stuff every day. No one feels insulted by it. We just play around. I think sexual harassment is normal."

At least one 16-year-old girl discovered it didn't do any good to inform school officials.

"I was upset the administration didn't respond immediately after I complained," she wrote on her questionnaire. "I was told to ignore the harassers."

Other findings:

Just 7 percent of the victims told a teacher about it. And while one in five victims told a family member, 23 percent kept quiet.

One in four girls who said they've been harassed were victimized by a teacher, coach, bus driver, teacher's aide, security guard, principal or counselor.

by CNB