Sexual harassment in our school is perceived differently by everyone, it’s a topic that may be difficult for some people to talk about. It isn’t always noticed throughout the school, some people experience it more than others.

As well as having a different view, everyone also has a different experience (or no experience at all) with sexual harassment. In school the conversation about sexual harassment can be kind of a touchy subject. It’s important to bring into light what is happening around us on a daily basis.  Although some people may not notice what is happening sexual harassment is going on. Some people may be afraid to speak up about what is happening to them. As our assistant principal, Ms. Danner stated, “start normalizing that it’s okay to talk about, and that it’s just not okay to do.” The teachers around us don’t always see what’s going on, the only way things can be changed is if people are more comfortable speaking up about what is happening to them. The adults around us cannot spot everything that is happening, it is important to know that there are people who we can go to talk to.

Adults have different experiences with sexual harassment. We all have different experiences of sexual harassment. Mrs. Duane also attended CKHS. When she went here she had different occasions where she experienced sexual harassment. She says, “there was nothing we could do at the time to say ‘don’t do this’”. Her thoughts about how we deal with sexual harassment now shows that we have more power, “women have much more of a voice, and they stand up, I don’t feel like I had the voice to stand up”. Although sexual harassment still occurs adults see us handling the situations better than they did then when they were in high school and young adults.

When students were polled about witnessing or experiencing sexual harassment the outcome was actually pretty close.  Nineteen out of thirty students said they have experienced sexual harassment or witnessed sexual harassment. The other 11 said they have not witnessed or experienced it. The people who said that they have not experienced or witnessed sexual harassment were mostly boys.  Girls may be more keen to pointing out what sexual harassment looks like.

Not everyone may know what to look for when witnessing sexual harassment, this could be another reason that it is not brought to the attention of adults. In schools, looking for sexual harassment should be talked about more. Students need to learn what to look for when standing in the halls or sitting in class. Being sexual harassed is a very uncomfortable situation and many students are scared to speak up about it.

Bully and sexual harassment go hand in hand. When you are sexually harassed it makes you feel uncomfortable and a little scared. You don’t know what to do and sometimes you may not know who to talk to it about. Schools need to make their students comfortable and let them know that they have someone to come to and there will be consequences for the harassers.

It’s important in these years that we stop sexual harassment and make sure that the people who are in charge are cracking down on what is going on around them. Students need to feel comfortable at the place they attend and spend hours and hours of their life at. Kids need to know that adults will take it in their hands and see what is going on and make sure that sexual harassment incidents are going down.