Was I experiencing sexual harassment by a professor at the university? An autoethnography

EDITORS' NOTE: Howz serious and widespread a problem is sexual harassment in our universities? What means will effectively diminish its incidence without violating the rights of individuals? Each of thefollowing essays answers one of these two questions. In the first, Bernice Lott, Mary Ellen Reilly, and Dale Howard describe the results of a 1979 survey that examined a sample of the entire University of Rhode Island population. Its purpose was to determine how many of the respondents in the sample group had personal knowledge of or had experienced any form of sexual assault, intimidation, or insult; how they had responded to assault; and their beliefs about harassment in general. In the second essay, Judith Berman Brandenburg delineates a response to the problem worked out at Yale University: the establishment of a grievance procedure administered through a specially selected board. The process of this honest search for answers uncovers other questions: Do we have a definition of sexual harassment upon which most people will agree? Is power thefactor that transforms what may be cajolery into harassment? If so, power in what forms? Do these forms make the problem invulnerable to any solution? With these essays we open a dialogue on such questions. We invite your letters in response, in the hope that through the exchange we canfurther advance feminist efforts to analyze-and to overcome-this pernicious form of sexual injustice.

Sexual harassment of women and girls in public places is prevalent and well-documented in Egypt. In a 2008 study of about 1,010 women and 1,010 men in Greater Cairo, 83 percent of Egyptian women and 98 percent of foreign women respondents reported they had been sexually harassed (Hassan, Abul Komsan, and Shoukry 2008, 16). A 2013 UN Women study revealed that 99 percent of 2,332 women sampled from seven governorates across rural and urban contexts, including Cairo, Alexandria, Ismailia, Gharbia, Dakahleya, Assiut, and Qena, had been sexually harassed (El-Deeb 2013, 6). Additionally, a 2014 study by HarassMap reported that 95 percent of three hundred women surveyed in Greater Cairo experienced sexual harassment (Fahmy et al. 2014, 6).Collective sexual assault and rape by largely unidentified men were prevalent responses to protests in Tahrir Square between 2011 and 2014 (El-Nadeem et al. 2013; Langohr 2013, 19; Nazra 2014). Such violence added to the existing widespread problem of everyday sexual harassment of women and girls by men and boys in public places, as well as sexual violence against women activists by actors affiliated with state security and police forces (Amar 2011, 309; Hafez 2014, 178; Tadros 2013, 8). In a context characterized by lax security due to the withdrawal of the police from the streets after the 2011 revolution (Ahmad Zaki and Abd Alhamid 2014; Tadros 2013, 7), novel forms of street-level action-oriented initiatives emerged and intensified. These initiatives focused on bystander intervention and self-defense and aimed at changing individual behaviors and attitudes, particularly as sexual assaults against activist and nonactivist women and girls became a regular feature of life. Initiatives against sexual harassment and assault such as HarassMap, OpAntiSH, Tahrir Bodyguard, WenDo Egypt, Shoft Taharrush, Dedd el-Taharrush, and Harakat Bassma relied on large numbers of volunteers and used social media for mobilization (Ahmad Zaki and Abd Alhamid 2014; Langohr 2013, 19; Langohr 2015, 131). Such action-oriented initiatives were facilitated by growing mainstream and social media attention to sexual harassment and violence and the ease of mobilizing creatively on- and offline to expose and shame harassers, name experiences of violence, and discuss them (Langohr 2015, 132).Between 2005 and 2010, in contrast, anti–sexual harassment interventions in Egypt by women’s and feminist nongovernmental organizations had focused largely on raising awareness and improving laws and policies, although there were early efforts at bottom-up approaches that used art, music, and theatrical events; workshops and trainings held at El Sawy Culture Wheel, the Goethe Institute, and the campus of the American University in Cairo (AUC); and interactive information sessions that included the collection of survey data to understand people’s experiences at AUC (Rizzo, Price, and Meyer 2012, 471–72; Pratt 2005, 141). The new initiatives against sexual harassment and assault represent for Hind Ahmad Zaki and Dalia Abd Alhamid (2014) the rise of “an independent social movement” that includes hundreds if not thousands of volunteers. Dalia Abd Alhamid, who works with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, emphasizes the “tremendous change” that occurred after the revolution as anti–sexual harassment activism moved away from small-scale “workshops, reports, documentation” that reached few people.1In addition to analyzing reports and secondary source material, this article uses fieldwork research we conducted in Cairo to explore the strategies and work of two prominent anti–sexual harassment initiatives, HarassMap, established in October 2010, and WenDo Egypt, established in May 2013.2 HarassMap activists mobilize bystanders to intervene if they witness sexual harassment, and WenDo Egypt trainers offer self-defense courses that encourage women to verbally and physically respond to harassment and assault against themselves and other women. We conducted participant observation and interviews with four activists in HarassMap and four trainers in Wendo Egypt. Participant observation included Abdelmonem working in the HarassMap office and attending unit meetings, trainings, and street outreach between 2013 and 2014. Galán participated in three self-defense workshops organized by WenDo Egypt in 2014 and 2015. We also interviewed six representatives of organizations and initiatives working against sexual harassment and assault, one each from the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, Nazra for Feminist Studies, El-Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, Harakat Bassma, Dedd el-Taharrush, and Tahrir Bodyguard. All interviews were conducted in English.HarassMap was launched in October 2010 by going live with an online crowdmapping system, Ushahidi, a GIS-based technology that asks users to anonymously describe their sexual harassment experience and pinpoint the location of the incident on a Google map (Peuchaud 2014, i115, i118; Skalli 2014, 250).3 The HarassMap cofounders include Rebecca Chiao, a US citizen employed as international relations director between 2004 and 2008 at the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR); Engy Ghozlan, an Egyptian citizen who managed the ECWR anti–sexual harassment program in 2007 and 2008; Sawsan Gad, an independent Egyptian researcher who affiliated with ECWR in 2009; and Amel Fahmy, an Egyptian employee of the UN Population Fund from 2008 to 2011.In late 2008 Chiao and Ghozlan separately left ECWR because, as they report, they each sought other work opportunities and increasingly disagreed with the organization’s political advocacy approach in response to sexual harassment. In 2005 ECWR initiated the “Making Our Streets Safe for Everyone” project to combat sexual harassment. Initially, the initiative centered on bottom-up strategies that engaged local people to raise awareness of sexual harassment as a problem. It was not externally funded and was run by Chiao and unpaid interns and volunteers until 2007, at which point it received a grant from the UN Population Fund (Rizzo, Price, and Myer 2012, 470). With funding, Chiao contends that ECWR moved toward top-down projects, such as conducting research and promoting draft legal amendments to criminalize sexual harassment in Egypt (ECWR 2009; FIDH et al. 2014, 74).4 Within Egypt’s militarized and neoliberal environment, ECWR and other NGOs sought to combat sexual harassment without breaching a variety of legal restrictions on their activities, including the 1958 Emergency Law and Law 84 of 2002, regulating NGOs (Rizzo, Price, and Meyer 2012, 464).HarassMap founders bypassed registration with the Ministry of Social Affairs, a practice that became widespread among anti–sexual harassment initiatives after the revolution.5 Initially, Chiao and Ghozlan worked part-time at other jobs while using their private cars and personal funds for the initiative and meeting with volunteers in cafés.6 They held the first outreach meeting with volunteers in December 2010, although the revolution accelerated their work as people began to speak more freely about sexual violence and the “barrier between people and the street” was removed.7 Amal ElMohandes of Nazra similarly reports that between 2011 and 2013 “public space was very open” and “very promising.”8 She continues: “everyone felt that they own the streets.” Between 2012 and 2013 HarassMap incubated with the capacity-building NGO Nahdat el-Mahrousa, which oversaw the use of funds from the Canadian-based International Development Research Center. HarassMap used these funds to hire staff to coordinate volunteers and pay for the use of a coworking space in Heliopolis. In 2015, given the government’s renewed enforcement of Law 84, HarassMap sought formal NGO status, which was approved in early spring 2016.HarassMap’s mission is to end the “social acceptability” of public sexual harassment and encourage people to stand up against it. Thus the primary focus of their work is to build community outreach teams comprising local people who speak to their neighbors and community kin to promote zero tolerance for sexual harassment and more recently to recruit schools, universities, small businesses, and corporations to become “role models” and devise internal measures—HarassMap calls these “escalation policies”—to manage sexual harassment claims. Initially, HarassMap activists hoped to use their Ushahidi-powered crowdmap to conduct community outreach in “hotspots” of sexual harassment. This idea was discarded soon after the first volunteer training in December 2010, when the cofounders decided that it made more sense to focus instead on the neighborhoods of their growing volunteer pool to more effectively impact the neighbors, friends, and family of participants.9HarassMap comprises several units. At the time this research was conducted, the Community Outreach unit worked with more than fourteen hundred volunteers in twenty-three governorates to coordinate monthly street campaigns. Within each governorate, HarassMap trains volunteers to become “community captains” who are responsible for building, training, and overseeing their own volunteer team to conduct a minimum of one or two outreach days per month to engage people and instill within them a sense of responsibility for solving the problem of sexual harassment and changing cultural sensibilities.10 The Safe Areas unit works with small businesses such as cafés, kiosks, and even taxis. The Safe Corporates unit works with companies such as Uber. The Safe Schools and Universities unit develops campus outreach teams. Additionally, the Marketing and Communications unit streamlines messaging, mediates media presence, and devises campaigns, while the Research unit manages the crowdmap, though this unit is currently being reformulated.Social movement theorists have long noted that social and political change depends on the mobilization of bystander publics, who have been described as “distal spectators” even if they are sympathetic (Snow, Zurcher, and Peters 1981, 31). Social movement actors often seek to sway bystanders to their cause and turn them into movement adherents to build a critical mass that will precipitate change (Benford and Snow 2000, 624). HarassMap seeks to end the bystander effect in relation to sexual harassment by convincing bystanders (al-nas illi waqifa), or those who “play stupid” (iʿmal ʿabit), to view it as a crime that is everyone’s responsibility to counteract. “Play stupid” appeared as a caption in a cartoon circulated on HarassMap’s (2013) Facebook page, showing a faceless woman on a crowded metro car being harassed while others ignored the situation. Bystanders, HarassMap activists argue, contribute to the social acceptability of sexual harassment.In a TedX (2012) talk, Chiao noted that bystanders use myths to excuse sexual harassment, for example by arguing that it happens only to foreign or unveiled women or that harassers are sexually frustrated because of delayed marriage. Referencing a 2007 political campaign poster of a lollipop covered with flies that encouraged women to veil to avoid sexual harassment, Chiao challenged this message, saying: “We believe that the only way that this problem will stop is if all the harassers stop harassing. And the only way they’ll stop is if we stop accepting these reasons. Stop ignoring, stop making excuses for them, and stop tolerating their behavior.” Like other activists, Chiao believes that men bystanders and harassers “actually interpret silence as welcoming.”11HarassMap’s Ebaʾa el-Tamimi argues that bystanders often consider harassers to be “cool” and believe that women want to be sexually harassed.12 To challenge common responses to sexual harassment, HarassMap launched a series of campaigns between 2012 and 2015, including “Byitḥarrash leh?” (“Why Does He Harass?”), “Mesh sakta” (“I Am Not Silent”), “Ṣaliḥha fi dimaghak” (“Get It Right”), “ʿAyyizin siyasa guwwa al-gamaʿa” (“We Want a Policy in the University”), “Di mesh muʿ aksa, da taḥarrush” (“It’s Not Flirtation, It’s Harassment”), and “Al-mutaḥarrish mugrim” (“The Harasser Is a Criminal”). El-Tamimi emphasizes that these campaigns either focus on or direct their message to bystanders:I’m not telling the harasser to stop harassing. I’m not telling him to “stop this long-term behavior that you’ve been doing all your life.” . . . I’m not even talking to him. I’m talking to people in the street who are generally passive and generally sit around and look at something happening, sometimes they even disagree with it. . . . The idea is to activate these people. You can do it on moral grounds, so you can go and do what the community mobilization guys do and talk to people and make eye contact and tell them this happens on your very street under your own nose and you don’t do anything about it.13In their fall 2013 biannual training workshop, called HarassMap Academy, activists conducted a performance activity in which they asked volunteers to compare how bystanders beat thieves and turn them into the police when a woman’s purse is stolen, whereas they are usually silent when a woman’s body or personal space is violated on the street. HarassMap seeks to “transfer the salience” of standing up to theft to standing up to sexual harassment (Von Atteveldt, Ruigrok, and Kliennijenhuis 2006, 2). As HarassMap’s former director of Community Outreach Hussein El-Shafei (2013) explained to volunteers in a training workshop held in Fayoum in October 2013, the initiative’s work depends on street awareness campaigns that gain people’s trust, transform their perceptions of sexual harassment, and obtain their agreement to speak up as witnesses in order to reshape the “social mentality” (al-ʿaqliyya al-igtimaʿiyya).The focus on bystanders and individual responsibility to stop harassment in a community avoids demonizing or alienating young lower-class men who are usually identified as harassers in popular discourse (Amar 2011, 317). This approach to combating gender-based violence has been criticized for shifting blame to bystanders, encouraging vigilantism, and endangering those who intervene (Elk and Devereaux 2014). These criticisms, however, do not address bystander approaches focused on producing social pressure that changes harassing behavior and creates new community norms, which is HarassMap’s goal.WenDo Egypt was established in May 2013 by Schirin Salem, a former gender project manager at the German Agency for International Cooperation. Being “half-Egyptian, half-German,” as she describes herself, influenced Salem’s decision to bring to Cairo WenDo, a women’s self-defense method created in Canada in the 1970s.14 “I have been coming to Egypt since my early childhood and always saw harassment,” notes Salem.15 She was surprised that her cousins and friends “never reacted” when harassed. Salem learned of WenDo when she attended a self-defense course as a thirteen-year-old in Germany. She recalls this experience as greatly increasing her self-confidence. Many years later she still remembered many self-defense techniques she learned. After she moved back to Egypt in the aftermath of the January 25 Revolution, she became certified as a WenDo trainer and decided to adapt this “Western concept” to the safety concerns of Egyptian women and girls.16 Salem trained weekly with a group of Egyptian women, practicing the exercises and modifying them to their needs and demands.WenDo self-defense training is addressed to women and girls of all ages, shapes, sizes, and abilities. It focuses on increasing women’s self-confidence and assertiveness in public places and on teaching women how to react against everyday sexual harassment through a wide range of strategies. The goal is to increase the number of women who walk confidently on the streets and react effectively and assertively to stop sexual harassment. Salem emphasizes that WenDo Egypt allows her to “see an effect right after” a training instead of waiting years for change.17WenDo Egypt basic training includes ten hours divided into two blocks. In the first, women learn how to enforce their boundaries through the look, voice, and body language. In the second block, they practice easy-to-perform kicks and punches that target vulnerable areas of a man’s anatomy. Since 2014 Salem has trained twenty-six new instructors from Cairo and Mansoura. WenDo trainers offer private self-defense courses to Egyptian and foreign women who can afford the lessons, which cost two hundred Egyptian pounds (about twenty-two US dollars), but they also train underprivileged women and girls on a voluntary basis in collaboration with children’s organizations, refugee service centers, and youth centers. Salem reported that by May 2015 around a thousand women and girls had been trained by WenDo Egypt, about seven hundred of them for free.18 Additionally, WenDo Egypt co-organized four igmadi (“be strong”) events, which combine self-defense, Zumba classes and awareness-raising sessions in cooperation with HarassMap, Nazra, and El-Nadeem. These events were attended by an average of 325 women and girls.19 Beginning in May 2015, WenDo courses are offered in youth centers across the country and new Training of Trainers courses have been planned in partnership with the Egyptian Ministry of Youth and Sports and the German Agency for International Cooperation, which provide funding to WenDo Egypt.Feminist scholarship on self-defense has demonstrated that norms of respectable femininity prescribe passive, helpless, compliant female bodies in need of male or state protection (De Welde 2003, 256; McCaughey 1997, 37). In public places, this gendered often into of rape and and 1981, of sexual harassment in Egypt that women respond to everyday and for of the into (Fahmy et al. 2014, Abul Komsan, and Shoukry 2008, they avoid public places, more and from or making eye contact with (Fahmy et al. 2014, trainer notes that women that if they look at they a . . . so they to by this of 1981, 2008, while women’s and awareness of WenDo Egypt in contrast, that women look up when on the street if back at the harasser into In the WenDo are up in and asked to at each other in a an that as to the exercises are to other and a look, voice, and convincing at the of a training, or raising their is to be so notes one of the after an that is or WenDo trainers the of using the to a message and for a space is to the WenDo their experiences of harassment without they will be for sexual They learn to a critical In addition to the look, voice, and body the of the WenDo training are to increase women’s self-confidence on the WenDo trainer emphasizes that women only need to use the voice, look, and self-confidence of the training to it is very to self-defense go from the training that . . . she can in the it such into practice in that of harassment while waiting for a on the or in the Trainers consider this one of the exercises because experiences and to them on their is voluntary and to others their they The harassed woman in a can the and for at The trainer often asks of the was and be in order to and With all manage to stop the who is by the This is very . . . that changes something them, because of them are very to of the and very and very of the end of the basic training, a with their using one of the learned the This more will than and as a of that the of which is in the that with and as a of their and Salem contends that WenDo to the of social that make sexual harassment by encouraging women to react against these sexual and other women who challenge sexual harassment on the 2008 Egyptian nongovernmental organizations the Sexual among other that sexual harassment be a The also called for the of and in the because the first the of rape to of a by a and the second to sexual assault as a of 2011, These which included article to and after the January 25 but have been ignored by the et al. 2014, a at El-Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, emphasizes the of changing legal which do not consider by other than a to be as or men as of 2013, under the of the Ministry of the police a unit responsible for violence against women. 2014, after a sexual harassment incident at Cairo University to a public in of the to of the of so that and online sexual harassment be with of between six and years and of up to thousand Egyptian pounds of 2014). the is because it that an to gain a sexual which is to and depends on a In have because contact information is included in police reports, to the of the and often in As a the family of the will often the woman who the and her or so that their the state sexual harassment in response to “tremendous from notes that sexual harassment is the social of as by a series of by the Egyptian between 2014 and In October 2014 the Ministry of a new anti–sexual harassment women’s police the 2014). this unit has been criticized by anti–sexual harassment activists for being against sexual harassers and instead to and of their volunteers In early 2015 that all Egyptian anti–sexual harassment training workshops for who the training for the Ministry of Youth and Sports in 2015, was about the of such trainings given the of information on gender norms and the increasingly political such as Abd Alhamid similarly that the but not have the political will to sexual or make to women’s have legal and interventions do not transform gendered and and can even activate gender or when norms are not 2013, women will often use laws the laws women as who to They also men as men and women from to the 2013, The anti–sexual harassment initiatives that emerged after the revolution direct intervention on the streets as more than legal and political change strategies for gendered norms and although activists also encourage women to seek through and HarassMap activists Chiao and El-Shafei that people who do not the or political will seek to being when a WenDo Egypt’s Salem, the of the is a in the right but change” so that the and consider harassment as a this article we use the action-oriented to to against sexual violence after the on the of Dedd in 2012 to combat sexual harassment the “I had this that need to do something and do an that was the notes in relation to Harakat Bassma with that had . . . He had an idea and to it and had a stand to WenDo trainer and HarassMap Safe Areas reports that her was by a sexual harassment incident by a family The for an response what from Tahrir calls a approach that centers on people’s personal experiences in with the anti–sexual harassment initiatives were when the the on 2013, a and the Emergency Law between and In 2013 the Law and public of teams that had been in Tahrir Square between 2012 and 2013 their because of political in and security concerns in In 2014 the by anti–sexual harassment initiatives to as nongovernmental organizations under Law 84 of or of their the January 25 in Egypt, initiatives were organized or accelerated to combat public sexual violence through HarassMap and WenDo activists that people the changes they in and HarassMap activists that sexual harassment will only end when all people speak up and view it as WenDo trainers that self-defense is an of anti–sexual harassment activism that can bring change when all women react against sexual and each other in this initiatives promote gender and women’s in public places, working to new social with the goal of producing

ABSTRACTPurpose: To explore whether sexual harassment experiences are more common among adolescents reporting romantic and erotic interests in the same sex and both sexes, when sociodemographic and mental health confounding are controlled for, and whether the associations are similar in both sexes and in different phases of adolescence.Methods: A cross-sectional survey among a nationally representative dataset of 25,147 boys and 25,257 girls in comprehensive school, and 33,231 boys and 36,765 girls in upper secondary education. Self-reports of experiences of sexual harassment, and emotional (depression) and behavioral (delinquency) symptoms were used.Results: All associations between sexual minority status and harassment diminished clearly when mental disorder dimensions were controlled for. In the comprehensive school sample (mean age 15.4 years), sexual harassment experiences were 4–7-fold more common among boys, and 1.5–3-fold among girls, with same-sex/both-sexes interest, compared to those interested exclusively in the opposite sex. In the upper secondary education sample (mean age 17.4 years), among boys, sexual harassment was reported 3–6-fold more commonly by those not exclusively heterosexually interested. Among older girls, a slight increase in sexual harassment experiences was seen among those interested in both sexes.Conclusions: Sexual harassment experiences are associated with sexual minority status, particularly among boys. Confounding by mental disorders needs to be accounted for when studying sexual minority status and sexual harassment.

In 1980, the affirmative action office at the University of Michigan established a sexual harassment task force to begin developing a multifaceted attempt to combat sexual harassment on campus. "Tell Someone," as the resulting program came to be known, has as one of its components a training workshop for engaging in personal and institutional battle with sexual harassment.' At the center of the workshop is a set of twelve trigger tapes (thirty-second videotaped dramas), six focused on student settings and six focused on employment settings. The tapes are designed to demonstrate the variety, complexity and genuine uncertainty typically surrounding incidents of sexual harassment, and they examine several basic forms: (1) male harassing female; (2) female harassing male; (3) heterosexual harassing homosexual; and (4) homosexual harassing heterosexual.2 With the help of trained facilitators, work-

Feminists have researched women's experiences of sexual harassment for over 20 years, yet men's experiences of sexual harassment still remain rarely acknowledged and even less frequently studied. This article seeks, therefore, to stimulate feminist interest in men's experiences of sexual harassment. I offer an exploratory analysis of the dynamics of heterosexual men's experiences of workplace sexual harassment perpetrated by heterosexual men or women. Close textual discussion of two qualitative, in-depth interviews reveals that sexual allegations (e.g. rape, incest and poor sexual performance) have a distinctive place in heterosexual men's experiences of workplace sexual harassment. As such, my argument is that men's experiences of workplace sexual harassment are underpinned by a restrictive discourse of 'acceptable' masculinity which constructs certain individuals as less than the ideal of masculinity when they do not behave in particular ways. When men are defined in this fashion, they are in fact being perceived as 'women'. The workplace sexual harassment of men in the form of verbal sexual allegations feminises those men who find such allegations distressing.

The present study investigated women students' experience and perceptions of sexual and gender harassment on a university campus, using an adapted version of the Sexual Experiences Questionnaire. Although only 31.7% of students perceived that they had been sexually harassed, 91.3% reported at least one form of behaviour which could be perceived as sexually harassing: 88.1% from students and 53.2% from academics. Academics mainly engaged in gender harassment. Behaviours which students perceived as sexually harassing were students making unwanted attempts at establishing a sexual relationship, academics and students making sexist remarks about women's behaviour and career options, and students making crude or offensive sexual remarks. Students were more likely to perceive that they had been sexually harassed by academics than by students when sexist remarks about women's behaviour and career options were made, lending partial support to the hypothesis that hierarchical level of relationship influenced students' perceptions of sexual harassment. This finding suggests that academics' opinions about women carry more weight than those of fellow students, so academics should consider them carefully and resist the temptation to indulge in “throwaway lines” or jokes, however harmlessly they may be intended.

Sexual assault and harassment, perceived vulnerability, and association with alcohol use in a student population: a cross-sectional survey

To determine the one year prevalence of workplace abuse and sexual harassment and to determine the extent of their associations with symptoms of depression. A total of 387 female faculty and staff from colleges in Awassa, Ethiopia completed a self-administered questionnaire which collected information about relationships, mood and feelings, thoughts and satisfaction concerning the workplace, and experiences with sexual harassment. Symptoms of depression were evaluated using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Logistic regression procedures were employed to calculate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). The 12 mo prevalence of either workplace abuse or sexual harassment was 86.3%; with 39.5% reporting workplace abuse only, 4.1% of them reporting sexual harassment only, and 42.6% reporting experiences of both sexual harassment and workplace abuse. Overall, the mean depression score for this cohort was 3.7 (standard deviation 4.2, range 0-19), and 9.3% of the cohort were identified as having moderate or moderately severe depression. The proportion of participants with depression were statistically significantly elevated in relation to reported experience of workplace abuse and sexual harassment (p=0.001). Compared with women reporting no experience with workplace abuse or sexual harassment, those who reported experiencing both workplace abuse and sexual harassment had an 8.00 fold increased risk of depression (OR=8.00, 95% CI:1.05-60.85). Inferences from this analysis are limited by our relatively small sample size as reflected by the wide 95% CI. Workplace abuse and sexual harassment are highly prevalent, and are positively correlated with symptoms of depression among college female faculty and staff in Awassa, Ethiopia. Future policies should include a combination of education, health, and public policy initiatives that clearly outline the problem and consequences of workplace abuse and sexual harassment in educational settings.

Bangladeshi female readymade garment (RMG) workers' experience of sexual harassment in the workplace raises concerns about the overall working conditions of the garment sector. Female workers' feelings of being unsafe and threatened in the workplace have been considered an alarming issue for international buyers/brands who aim to ensure sexual harassment-free workplaces as a condition of sourcing clothing items. We hypothesise that the frequent experience of sexual harassment among Bangladeshi female RMG workers tends to be associated with (i) age, (ii) marital status, (iii) night shift (working during night time), (iv) non-existence of anti-sexual harassment cells (a formal body/committee works against sexual harassment incidence in the workplace), (v) trade union activity, and (vi) factory location and types. To our knowledge, there has been no previous research on the experience of sexual harassment by female garment workers and its connections to such a variety of occupational and geographical factors. By addressing this gap, the present study aimed to investigate the prevalence and risk factors associated with female garment workers' experience of sexual harassment. Cross-sectional data were collected from 332 (mean age = 26.10 years; SD = 6.54 years) currently employed female garment workers in Bangladesh, between February and July 2018. Data were analysed using bivariate and multivariate logistic regression modelling. In the past 6 months, nearly one-quarter (22.0%) of workers reported experiencing frequent sexual harassment inside the factory, mainly by male co-workers (37.0%), supervisors (32.9%), security guards (27.4%), and factory owners (2.7%). Workers from the factories located in Chattogram (a peripheral region compared to Dhaka) reported a higher frequency of sexual harassment than those working in factories located in Dhaka (the capital city of Bangladesh). Overall, the percentages of unmarried and young female workers who experienced sexual harassment were almost double compared to married and aged female workers. Workers' frequent experience of sexual harassment at the workplace was associated with factory location (β 0.67, 95%CI 1.02, 3.76), night shift (β 2.58, 95%CI 6.92, 25.18), and non-existence of an anti-sexual harassment cell inside the factory (β 0.62, 95%CI 0.97, 3.55). Urgent improvements in overall workplace conditions and anti-sexual harassment programmes are needed to safeguard female workers in the Bangladeshi RMG sector.

Male Nurses’ Experiences of Workplace Gender Discrimination and Sexual Harassment in South Korea: A Qualitative Study

IntroductionThis paper explores whisper networks, which are informal communication networks women use to share information about sexual harassment and sexual harassers in the workplace. Women use whisper networks to share information about people known for sexual harassment or assault. This study offers an innovative approach to studying the nuances and dynamics of sexual harassment and communication in the workplace by focusing on women's experiences in whisper networks.MethodsTo examine these back-channels, I conducted 20 semi-structured interviews with participants who participated in whisper networks in their organizations. Using grounded theory, I established three emergent theories about the purposes whisper networks serve in organizations.ResultsWhisper networks (1) serve as protection in organizational cultures of harassment and (2) help women make sense of their harassment experience through sensemaking. Whisper networks also serve the purpose of (3) identifying harassers because harassers are not readily apparent when entering a new work situation.DiscussionThese findings establish a baseline of theories to explain whisper networks' purposes and offer theoretical and practical implications for future research on sexual harassment, whisper networks, and informal communication networks.

Objective: Although workplace sexual harassment is known to affect nurses’ psychological well-being, research on itsrelationship with professional identity is limited.Methods: This study is a cross-sectional study designed to examine sexual harassment experienced by nurses, symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and their association with professional identity. Study data were obtainedbetween April 25 and 30, 2019. The study was conducted with 115 nurses working in different hospitals who hadexperienced sexual harassment in their workplaces in the past year. The sample was recruited from an online nursing community in South Korea. Participants were asked about the type of sexual harassment, its frequency, and theperpetrators. PTSD symptoms and professional identity were measured using the Impact Event Scale-Revised and themodified version of Snizek-revised Hall’s professional inventory.Results: Physical sexual harassment (294 reported cases) was the most frequently reported type of sexual harassmentamong nurses. Patients were the majority of the perpetrators in almost all types of sexual harassment. In the logisticregression analysis, a more frequent experience of sexual harassment (P < .05) had a statistically significant effect onattenuated professional identity. Higher levels of PTSD due to sexual harassment were independently associated withstrengthened professional identity (P < .05)Conclusion: Nurses’ frequent experiences of sexual harassment in the workplace are an occupational health risk thataffects their professional identity. However, high levels of PTSD were significantly related to a strengthened professionalidentity among nurses with experiences of sexual harassment. It would be helpful to use the strategies to promoteposttraumatic growth in caring sexually harassed nurses to reinforce their professional identity.Cite this article as: Lee E, Suh M. Nurses’ experience of sexual harassment at the workplace and traumatic stress as factors attributing professional identity: A crosssectional study. Arch Health Sci Res. 2025; 12, 0066, doi: 10.5152/ArcHealthSciRes.2024.24066.

Over the past 20 years, there has been an emergence of reported incidents of abuse, harassment, and bullying in Canadian sport (M. Holman, unpublished data, 1995).1-3 In 1994, an Edmonton track coach was charged and convicted of engaging in sexual relations with his female adolescent athletes. In 1996, the national cycling team coach was charged with sexual harassment against a number of athletes.3,4 Furthermore, media attention surrounding the conviction of junior hockey coach Graham James and gymnastics coach Don Mathey for the sexual assault of young sport participants, and the 2005 hazing reports among McGill University's football players represent just a few recent examples of public attention on the occurrence of abuse, harassment, and bullying in the Canadian sport environment. A recent report published by the International Olympic Committee Medical Commission recognized the rights of athletes to enjoy a safe and supportive sport environment. This report stated that everyone in sport shares the responsibility to identify and prevent instances of abuse and harassment to assure the health and safety of each participant in the sport environment.5 It is proposed that as supporters of safe and healthy performance environments, the Canadian sport medicine community plays an important role in maltreatment prevention. As such, it is essential that sport medicine specialists be educated on issues of abuse, harassment, and bullying in sport and be equipped with strategies to intervene if/or when potential cases arise. Therefore, the objective of this document is to review current literature on the problems of abuse, harassment, and bullying in Canadian sport. More specifically, this discussion article seeks to provide the medical community with the knowledge to appropriately identify and address cases of abuse, harassment, and bullying. As well, recommendations are proposed for the potential role of sport medicine professionals in the prevention of abuse, harassment, and bullying in sport. DEFINITIONS A recent article published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine proposed a conceptual model of the different categories, constructs, and constituents of maltreatment in sport. The article also included a review of current definitions of each category and subcategory of maltreatment and a comprehensive list of sport-specific examples.6 Abuse Abuse is defined as a pattern of physical, sexual, emotional, or negligent ill-treatment by a person in a caregiver capacity (eg, parent, coach) resulting in actual or potential harm to the athlete.6 The 4 major recognized types of abuse include physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect.7 Examples of abuse in sport are provided in Table 1.TABLE 1: Examples of Abuse in SportHarassment Harassment is defined as single or multiple acts of unwanted or coerced behaviors by a person within a prescribed position of authority over the athlete (eg, coach, official, administrator) that have the potential to be harmful. Harassment occurs outside the context of a caregiving relationship.6 It refers to behaviors that are in violation of an individual's human rights. Like abuse, harassment is also considered to be based on an abuse of power and trust.8 Individuals can experience harassment on an individual basis or as a group. Examples of harassment in sport are provided in Table 2.TABLE 2: Examples of Harassment in SportBullying Bullying is defined as a pattern of physical, verbal, or psychological behaviors between peers (eg, teammates) that have the potential to be harmful.6 Bullying is based on an imbalance of power between peers and includes an absence of provocation.9 Examples of bullying in sport are provided in Table 3.TABLE 3: Examples of Bullying in SportFinally, it needs to be clarified that both children and adults are vulnerable to experiences of abuse, harassment, and bullying. Much of the research to date on abuse, harassment, and bullying in sport has actually been based on the interviews of adult athletes,10 and quite a few researchers have argued that the unbalanced power dynamic between the coach and athlete in the sport environment, which creates a position of vulnerability to abuse of the athlete, is not limited by the age of the athlete.11 Furthermore, it should be noted that abuse, harassment, and bullying can occur between individuals of the same sex. Both men and women may be perpetrators of abuse, harassment, or bullying, and cases of athlete abuse, harassment, and bullying are experienced by male and female athletes alike.12-14 BACKGROUND LITERATURE Early research in Canada on the protection of athletes in sport included criticisms of the highly competitive climate of youth sport,15,16 research on violence and injury prevention in sport,17-19 and concerns for the development of elite athletes.20-22 Following this research, several examinations were conducted throughout the 1990s on the occurrence of abuse, harassment, and bullying in Canadian sport. Based on in-depth interviews with 45 retired high-performance Canadian athletes and a number of documentary and informal sources of data, Donnelly discussed the vulnerability of elite child athletes to inappropriate behaviors within the coach-athlete relationship, such as unwanted rubdowns, sexual advances, domination of the body, and coercion into unnecessary dieting.23 As well, one third of the athletes interviewed reported physical and mental abuse, and many discussed issues with peer violence and bullying.23 In 1995, Parks and Recreation Ontario interviewed and surveyed 138 participants aged 11 to 25 years and reported that 47% of the respondents had experienced harassment in sport in the form of jokes, gestures, or looks that were humiliating, insulting, or offensive.24 A survey of 1100 Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union varsity athletes reported that 57% of respondents had experienced sexually harassing behaviors (M. Holman, unpublished data, 1995). At the 1995 Canada Winter Games in Alberta, the Canada Games Council questioned athletes on their experiences of harassment in sport. Of those athletes, 50% had reported experiencing at least 1 form of harassment (11% racial, 16% sexual, 18% verbal, and 11% physical). This study was then repeated at the 1997 Canada Games in Manitoba revealing similar results. Forty-seven percent of athlete respondents reported experiencing some form of harassment in sport.24 Furthermore, in 1996, a national-level study on the prevalence of sexual harassment and abuse among Canadian Olympians was conducted. From this study, the researchers reported that of the 266 surveys completed, 19% of the athletes complained of experiencing upsetting sexual comments or advances, 21.8% experienced sexual intercourse with authority figures in sport, and 25% of the respondents reported being insulted, ridiculed, made to feel like a bad person, slapped, hit, or beaten by these authority figures.25 Most recently, a body of literature has begun to emerge on Canadian athletes' experiences of emotional abuse in sport. Based on a series of semistructured interviews with elite and subelite retired athletes, it has been reported that acts of aggression such as hitting and throwing objects either at the athlete or in the presence of the athlete, yelling and shouting at an athlete or group of athletes, belittling, name-calling, degrading, humiliating, or intimidating comments, and the intentional denial of attention and support are often normalized as standard coaching techniques required to produce successful performance in sport.26,27 As well, the significant power of the coach and the enhanced vulnerability of athletes to experiences of sexual and emotional maltreatment in sport have been reported.10,28 In addition to those studies described, several other researchers in Canada have written about the occurrence of athlete abuse and harassment1,29-33 and hazing in sport.34,35 Outside of Canada, a large body of literature has been published outlining the problem of abuse, harassment, and bullying among athletes in countries such as Australia,36 Denmark,37 Israel,38 the Netherlands,39 Norway,40,41 Turkey,42 the United Kingdom,11,12,43-48 and the United States (S. L. Hinkle, unpublished data, 2005).49-61 Furthermore, literature on human rights approaches to abuse is emerging internationally.62-64 RISK FACTORS Identified risk factors for athlete maltreatment in sport are based exclusively on the empirical literature on sexual abuse and harassment within the coach-athlete relationship. However, it is proposed that although most of these factors should apply to some extent to all forms of maltreatment in the sport, some differences may exist. Based on the individual accounts of 90 sexually abused female athletes in the United Kingdom, Brackenridge explained that various stakeholders are involved in the occurrence of sexual abuse in sport, including the abusers, children, parents, coaches, social services/police, sport club/organization, and the national coaches' organizations. In her research, Brackenridge (1997)43 categorized trends of risk into the following: (1) coach variables: sex (male), age (older), size/physique (larger), accredited qualifications (good), reputation (high), previous record of sexual abuse (unknown/ ignored), trust of parents (high), commitment to codes of ethics (low), and the like; (2) athlete variables: sex (female), age (younger), size/ physique (smaller), status (high), self-esteem (low), medical problems (med/high), relationship with parents (weak), awareness of sexual abuse (low), devotion to coach (complete), and the like; and (3) sport variables: employment controls (weak), existence of parent and athlete contracts (none), and codes of ethics (weak/none). Sexual orientation, gender-orientation, and disability have also been previously identified factors of vulnerability to harassment in sport.65 Additionally, other factors of risk identified in the literature include athletic maturation of the athlete, parents' trust of the coach, sport type, and the subculture of sport itself. Brackenridge and Kirby explained that the risk for sexual abuse in sport is dependent on the athletic maturation of the athlete. It was suggested that athletes are most vulnerable to sexual abuse during their peak athletic maturation, the period in which they have the most at stake in terms of their careers. This is referred to as the stage of imminent achievement. It is then proposed that the risk for sexual abuse is highest among athletes in sports where the stage of imminent achievement coincides with age of sexual maturity, such as gymnastics and figure skating.11 In 1998, Brackenridge examined the role of parents in preventing sexual abuse in sport and reported that parents often trust coaches uncritically, which places young athletes in a position of vulnerability. It was reported that less than 45% of the parents surveyed knew of the coach's qualifications, and 80% were unaware of whether the coach was bound by a code of ethics.44 Examination of the prevalence of sexual harassment across 56 different Norwegian sport disciplines was conducted by Fasting, Brackenridge, and Sundgot-Borgen. A total of 572 female athletes, aged 15 to 39 years, who qualified for the Norwegian national team at either the junior or senior level completed a questionnaire that included an 11-item list of sexual harassment descriptions. In this study, it was reported that female athletes who participate in traditionally masculine sports, such as basketball, football, and ice hockey, experience more sexual harassment than female athletes in other historically more feminine sports.41 As well, the culture of sport itself has been discussed as a factor of risk to abuse. Bringer et al46(p229) reviewed aspects of sporting subculture that make experiences of sexual exploitation in sport "'part of the game' and something 'you just put up with.'" According to Bringer et al, the risk for sexual abuse in sport is increased by the unquestioned power of coach, single-minded pursuit of excellence, normalization/ambiguity of sexually harassing or abusive behaviors, the morally good image of sport and desire to maintain such an image, and the often apolitical standpoint of many voluntary sport organizations. Martin56 surveyed 134 Division II tennis players asking them to identify 20 perceived sexually abusive behaviors in sport and reported that the behaviors ranked by the athletes as appropriate were contrary to the researchers' expectations, also demonstrating the ambiguity of appropriate and inappropriate behaviors in sport as a risk for abuse. Further supporting the culture of sport itself as variable of risk, Krauchek and Ranson66 proposed that sexual harassment and abuse of girls and women in sport exist as a means of upholding masculine hegemony in the face of increasing participation and challenge by women. Brackenridge45 then categorized sport or situational variables of risk into normative variables that relate to the culture of the activity or sport organization; constitutive variables that are strictly embedded within the culture of sport; and other variables including age relations, specific locations, sport specificity/subcultural norms. The risk for abuse in sport is further enhanced by the general reluctance to report inappropriate coaching behaviors. A series of focus groups were conducted with 19 male coaches about their perceptions of appropriateness with regard to coach-athlete sexual relations. This study reported that in general, the coaches perceived a higher standard of appropriateness in the coach-athlete relationship for themselves than the standards by which they would judge other coaches. Furthermore, it was indicated by participants of this study that they would be reluctant to intervene if they considered a peer coach to be acting inappropriately.67 SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS There are many long-term negative consequences that have been correlated with experiences of abuse, harassment, and bullying. Mullen et al68 reported increased rates of psychopathology, sexual difficulties, low self-esteem, and interpersonal problems associated with all forms of abuse. Other reported negative consequences of abuse, harassment, and bullying include depression, anxiety, debilitating developmental effects, emotional instability, physical self-abuse, eating disorders, substance abuse, attachment problems, dependency, aggression/violence, delinquency/criminality, impaired moral reasoning, overly compliant behaviors, failure to thrive, and inability to develop positive relationships with others.69-72 Specific consequences of abuse and violence identified in the sport environment include obsessive and compulsive behaviors with respect to excessive training, eating disorders, self-injurious behaviors/engagement in excessive risk for accidents and injury, and burnout.63 Aside from recognizing the long-term debilitating effects of abuse, harassment, and bullying, Matthews identified several signs and symptoms that may be used as potential indicators. Applications of these signs in the sport environment are listed in Table 4. However, Matthews73(p154) warns, "It's important to note that these symptoms are all nonspecific, meaning they could result from a number of causes - not just child abuse. Children who are under stress from a variety of sources … may show similar symptoms."TABLE 4: Potential Signs and Symptoms of Athlete MaltreatmentRECOMMENDATIONS Medical professionals are responsible for caring for the health and welfare of young persons in sport. The health of the athlete must prevail over other competition, economic, legal, or political interests,5 and thus, it is proposed that medical professionals play an integral role in the prevention and intervention of abuse, harassment, and bullying in sport. To date no empirical evaluations have been published on the effectiveness of strategies used by medical professionals in response to issues of maltreatment. As such, in generating these guidelines for the ways in which sport medicine professionals should address cases of abuse, harassment, and/or bullying, information has been developed from previously published suggestions for how responsible adults should address suspected cases of abuse,73 combined with expert opinion on the specific strategies for medical professionals within the sport environment. WHAT SHOULD I DO IF AN ATHLETE DISCLOSES AN EXPERIENCE OF ABUSE, HARASSMENT, OR BULLYING? Listen carefully and calmly. The athlete needs to know that he/she is being heard. You will need to remember the details of the conversation for future investigation. After your conversation, create a detailed written record. Do not speak poorly about the perpetrator. The perpetrator can be a person that the victim truly cares for. Some victims may feel the need to protect their abusers, and any threats against this person may lessen the athlete's willingness to report and/or allow for further investigation of the issue. Encourage the individual. You should encourage the athlete to tell you as much as he/she feels comfortable sharing. The goal is to get enough information to guide the person in the direction of more specific care and support. Avoid asking specific questions. Specific questions can mislead the athlete's account and impede future investigations. Assure the athlete that the maltreatment is not his/her fault. Tell the athlete that you are glad that he/she told you about the maltreatment. There is often a culture of silence around experiences of abuse, harassment, or bullying. Especially in sport, where mental toughness is ingrained in many young athletes, individuals may feel that they are weak in asking for help. The athlete needs to be assured that the maltreatment is not his/her fault and that you are aware of the courage it has taken him/her to come forward. Report. Mandated reporting laws vary between provinces, but in general, all persons and all professionals who have reasonable grounds to suspect that a child (individual younger than 16 years) is or may be in need of protection must report. In the case of suspected child abuse or harassment, duty to report exceeds patient client confidentiality. Reports must be made directly to local child protection services. For suspected cases of bullying, or abuse/harassment of nonchild athletes, if a physician has general concerns about athlete maltreatment, then he/she should inform the sport body that there are concerns without violating patient confidentiality and allow the sport governing body to address the issue. For concern over specific cases of maltreatment of an adult athlete, the physician should encourage the adult athlete to report his/her case of maltreatment to local authorities and/or the sport governing body. The athlete will need to have additional support and encouragement if any investigation develops. Make a referral. Once you have taken the appropriate steps to report the maltreatment to the authorities, you should refer the athlete to a therapist or relevant health expert. Even if the symptoms of the maltreatment are not evident, it is best to err on the side of caution. There are several long-term consequences that can occur as a result of experiences of athlete abuse, harassment, or bullying. WHAT SHOULD I DO IF I SUSPECT A CASE OF ABUSE, HARASSMENT, OR BULLYING IN SPORT, BUT I AM NOT SURE? Look for signs and symptoms. Medical professionals are in a unique position where they may be able to recognize early signs of abuse, harassment, or bullying and have the ability to intervene accordingly. See Table 4. Report. It is imperative that all suspected cases of athlete abuse or harassment be reported directly to the authorities. Suspected cases of abuse/harassment of a child athlete (an athlete younger than 16 years) must be reported directly to local child protection services. Concerns for bullying or suspected cases of abuse or harassment of an adult athlete should be reported to the highest level of the sport organization without violating patient confidentiality. AS A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL, HOW CAN I HELP PROTECT ATHLETES FROM FUTURE CASES OF ABUSE, HARASSMENT, AND BULLYING? Maintain focus on the well-being of the athlete. The primary role of the sport medicine community is to care for the long-term health and welfare of individuals in sport. This should include attention to the physical, psychological, social, and spiritual health of the athlete, and this focus must take precedence over performance interests. Educate. The sport medicine community has an extended responsibility to educate individuals in leadership positions on their position of trust/power and their need to assure the long-term well-being of the individuals within their care. Physicians can encourage participation of coaches, parents, and athletes in prevention workshops. Through their own practice, medical professionals can promote and exemplify equitable, respectful, and ethical leadership. As well, sport medicine professionals may educate the media to be responsive to the ways in which Sport Medicine has taken a proactive and progressive role in eliminating abuse, harassment, and bullying in sport. Ensure that the sport organization has in place a policy for athlete protection. In order for an athlete protection policy to be most effective, it should include codes of practice, education and training, complaint and support mechanisms, and monitoring and evaluation systems. The policy should state the commitment of the organization to create a safe and mutually respectful environment. The establishment of athlete protection policies can help to minimize opportunities for maltreatment and manage potential unfounded allegations. Foster strong partnerships with parents/caregivers in the prevention of athlete maltreatment. Promote and support scientific research on these issues. WHAT CAN I DO TO PROTECT MYSELF FROM UNWARRANTED ALLEGATIONS OF ABUSE, HARASSMENT, OR BULLYING? Respect the professional boundaries involved with the physician-athlete relationship. Ensure that your sport organization has preventative policies and codes of conduct in place. Maintain accurate and timely records of physician/athlete encounters.

Background: Sexual harassment is a problematic issue where women and men work together. It is being recognized as a violation of human rights and human dignity which undermines the equality of opportunity and treatment between men and women. So, this study was conducted in Kathmandu which helps to find out women's experience of sexual harassment and its impact on them. Methods: Descriptive study was conducted in six carpet factories, selected purposively. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to find out experience of sexual harassment and its impact on their job, mental and physical health. The organizational context and job context of those factories were also studied. Results: From the study, 72% workers had heard about Sexual Harassment and among them, 52% had faced it in their workplace. The most frequent type of sexual harassment was passing vulgar jokes, remarks or teasing obscenely (87%). Twenty three percent of the workers felt disruption on their job, 61% were affected mentally and 8% were affected physically after harassment. All the workers felt provision and execution of penalty to the perpetrator. But none of the factory had policy on sexual harassment or none of the worker had complained about sexual harassment to the authority yet. Conclusions: Female workers are very much vulnerable to sexual harassment by their male co workers. It negatively impacts their performance, mental and physical health. There should be sexual harassment policy in their organization to maintain a fair and productive working environment and implementation is must. Key words: sexual harassment; working women; workplace; workers. DOI: 10.3126/jnhrc.v7i2.3015 Journal of Nepal Health Research Council Vol.7(2) Apr 2009 98-102

Sexual harassment policies in South African higher education institutions show variations in focus and content. In this study, we set out to determine students’ understandings and experiences of sexual harassment with the broader aim of informing a framework that higher education institutions could use to strengthen their sexual harassment policies. A total of 640 (of a potential 2 222) students completed an online survey that, among other things, incorporated the Sexual Experience Questionnaire. Non-parametric procedures were used to identify significant gender differences and effect sizes in students’ understandings and experiences of sexual harassment. More female students experienced some form of sexual harassment, and they were more likely to recognise different types of verbal sexual harassment (possibly because they present a broader definition of harassment). The female students appeared less tolerant of harassment behaviour, but they were significantly more hesitant to report sexual harassment than the male students. In addition, the female students were less likely to consider themselves familiar with the guidelines on reporting incidents of sexual harassment and they were more likely to feel that perpetrators get away with harassment behaviour than the male students. Both male and female students indicated that sexual harassment is more likely to occur between student groups than between students and lecturers. The male and female students expressed strong support for the proposed policy components, including defining sexual harassment, procedures for reporting and disciplinary sanctions for sexual harassment.