Teenage sexual harassment ranges from subtle to shocking, in many cases, though, it¡¦s easy to miss. As Dr.Nan Stein, a national expert on sexual harassment at Wellesley College explained in a phone interview with Harriet Hodgson, the author of Powerplays, ¡§sexual harassment is often vague and ambitious¡¨ (1). What one person may perceive as joking, another finds offensive and degrading. Students and employees are legally protected against sexual harassment (What is Sexual Harassment? 21). The most widely used, common-sense definition of sexual harassment is ¡§deliberate and/or repeated sexual or sex-based behavior that is not welcome, not asked for, and not returned¡¨ (18). The word ¡Â

There are five types of sexual harassment:

Eleanor Linn, Associate director of Programs for Educational Opportunity at the University of Michigan says that the difference between sexual harassment and flirting is simple, ¡§Flirtation feels good, harassment feels bad¡¨. (Hodgson 5) The schools definition of sexual harassment broadens to include everything from having clothing torn off and being forced to perform sexual acts, to unwanted sexual jokes, gestures, or looks. On a survey taken by the author of ¡§What is Sexual Harassment?¡¨ in reference to the previous description, more than 4/5 of the students defined themselves as victims of sexual harassment. More than 60% of girls and 40% of boys aged 13-17, report that they have been ¡§touched, grabbed, or pinched in a sexual way.¡¨ (What is Sexual Harassment? 73) Peer-to-peer sexual harassment is rampant in elementary and secondary schools. Examples include students¡¦ attempts to pull down gym shorts or flip up skirts, nasty, personalized graffiti on bathroom walls; sexualized jokes that mock women¡¦s bodies; bras snapped and body parts groped; and outright physical assault and attempted rape. (21)

Sexual aggression is a continuum. It begins with a milder form of harassment, inappropriate talk, to the popping of bra straps, unwanted contacts, coerced physical activity and the coerced sexual activity. Each time inappropriate behavior, obscene epithets, or grabbing a breast or a buttock, goes unseen or without reprimand, the baseline of what is acceptable is lowered. (Popkin F1) After knowingly becoming a victim of sexual harassment, the next evident step to take would be to file a report. Reporting is

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