We asked students about their experiences with sexual harassment which we operationalized as unwelcome sexual advances. We operationalized this definition by
asking if students had experienced any of the following on campus since the beginning of the school year:

Being subjected to unwanted teasing, jokes, or remarks of a sexual nature.

Being subjected to unwanted pressure for a date.

Being subjected to unwanted pressure for sexual activity.

Sexually assaulted/forced to have sexual relations against your will.

For each statement, students were given the following response choices: No, Yes--one time, Yes--two times, Yes--more than two times.

In these questions on sexual harassment, we focused on behaviors which are sexually related and distinguished them from behaviors which are gender related. Our
focus is on unwelcome sexual overtures, requests for sexual contact, and other verbal or physical behavior of a sexual character which are uninvited. Gender-related
behaviors are dealt with in the previous chapter as gender violence.

Students were asked to write descriptions of incidents they experienced and here are some examples of what they wrote:

I've been the only female in a group when jokes or remarks about sex were made and it is very intimidating.

A faculty member got a hold of my phone number at home after seeing me on campus. He continually asked me out, calling my home several times. He
continued calling and asking me out for a month. [It was] very upsetting.

I was continually harassed for a date by a male student on my e-mail and in class after making it perfectly clear that I was not interested.

A guy I was dating made several attempts to have sexual intercourse with me. I felt uncomfortable and told him so. He eventually realized he would not
get what he wanted, and moved on to another girl.

I was drugged and raped by someone I knew very well for four years.

.

In the social science research literature, there are a variety of ways to operationalize sexual harassment so it is difficult to compare victimization rates across different
studies (Avery and Cavanaugh, 1995; Lengnick-Hall, 1995). The measure we use in this study does not address the issues of quid pro quo sexual harassment where
a teacher or supervisor threatens retaliation if the student or worker does not grant sexual favors. It also does not address the issue of a teacher or supervisor
creating an intimidating atmosphere. We simply asked general questions about unwanted sexual behavior.

Victimization

Table 3.1 shows the frequency of the four types of sexual harassment. The most common types are sexual teasing and jokes (10%) and pressure for a date (8.9%).
Almost seven percent of the sample said that they had received unwanted pressure for sex and fewer than one percent said that they had been sexually assaulted or
raped on campus. While this is small number, it represents seven acknowledged campus rapes or attempted rapes. On each of the four types of sexual harassment,
women were twice as likely to be victimized than men.

Many of the respondents had multiple experiences with sexual harassment. For example, half of the respondents who reported unwanted pressure for sex were
victimized 3 or more different times (See Appendix Table B3.1).

In order to determine how many individuals were victimized at least once by at least one type of sexual harassment, we combined the four questions into a single
measure. Of the total sample, 153 students (16.8%) reported being victims of at least one type of sexual harassment. Sixty percent of those who were sexually
harassed reported one form of harassment while forty percent reported two or more types of sexual harassment.

We were struck by the fact that exactly the same number of students were victimized by sexual harassment (153) as by ethnoviolence. We immediately
double-checked our calculations and confirmed our findings.

Returning to the distinction between sexual harassment and gender violence, it is apparent from Table 3.2 that students do distinguish between the two. While sexual
harassment appears to be more common than gender victimization, one-third of the gender victims (20 individuals) did not report sexual harassment. Furthermore,
three-fourths of the sexual harassment victims (113 individuals) did not report gender violence. In all, 19.0% of the students (173 individuals) said that they had been
victimized at least once during the academic year by either or both.

Who Are The Victims

How did group membership affect the incidence of sexual harassment? The data in Table 3.3 show that females were more than twice as likely than males to be the
victims of sexual harassment. Similarly, gays, lesbians and bisexuals were more than twice as likely as heterosexuals to be sexually harassed. Both findings are
statistically significant.

Race and ethnicity had a smaller and less consistent impact on sexual harassment. African Americans and Asian Americans had the highest victimization rate, while
Whites and Hispanics had the lowest. Jews and Asians fell in between. (Also see Appendix Table B3.2)

We then examined the other background variables. Students who were enrolled full-time, who lived on campus and who were young had an increased likelihood of
being victimized by sexual harassment. For example, 48% of the victims lived on campus compared with only 26% of the non-victims. Seventy-six percent of the
victims were 21 years old or younger, compared with 58% of the non-victims. Ninety-seven percent of the victims were enrolled full-time compared with 88% of the
non-victims.

Only 6.4% of sexual harassment victims reported the incident to the campus authorities, a rate that is even lower than the 10.4% reporting rate for ethnoviolence
victims. The top three reasons for sexual harassment victims not reporting are the same as for the ethnoviolence victims -- not serious enough (91%), campus
authorities couldn't do anything (79%) and campus authorities wouldn't do anything (76%). Despite their denial of the seriousness of the incidents, approximately
70% of the victims did discuss the incident with their peers and with significant others.


Summary

One of six students in the sample experienced at least one incident of sexual harassment during the school year. Women and gays were twice as likely to be
victimized as men and heterosexuals. Students who were young and who lived on campus were overrepresented among victims. Less than 10% of the victims
reported the incidents to campus authorities although 70% discussed the incdents with family and friends.

Table 3.1 Types of Sexual Harassment by Gender (Percent)
Types of Sexual Harassment
Male
Female
Total
Jokes, remarks of sexual nature
5.9
15.5
10.0
Unwanted pressure to date
6.6
12.4
8.9
Unwanted pressure for sexual activity
5.2
9.7
6.7
Sexual assault/forced to have sex
0.7
1.1
0.8

Table 3.2 Sexual Harassment Victimization by Gender Victimization

Gender Victim
Sexual Harassment
Total
Victim
Not Victim
Victim
40
20
60
Not Victim
113
739
852
Total
153
759
912

Note: For example, 113 respondents are Sexual Harassment Victims but are not Gender Victims.




Table 3.3 Sexual Harassment Victimization by Group Membership
Group Membership
Percent
Number
African-American
23.2
33
Asian
17.2
5
Asian-American
20.8
15
Hispanic
12.5
3
Jewish
17.6
6
White, non-Jewish
14.7
83
Males
11.7
36
Females
24.3
111
Heterosexual
16.0
141
Gay,lesbian,bisexual
36.4
12
Total Sexual Harassment Victims
16.8
153

For example, 23.2% of African Americans were victims of sexual harassment.