Sexual Harassment in Higher Education - Experiences and Perceptions among Students at a Danish University

Abstract

Taking higher education to be an arena in which professional and social interaction has a special propensity to overlap, this paper investigates university students’ experiences and perceptions of sexual harassment. Based on survey data, we find varying responses according to their gender and nationality, indicating that men and Danish students are least likely to experience and perceive situations as sexual harassment. Further, we find a wide-spread normalization of certain potentially offensive acts and behaviours. In addition, students report varying degrees of acceptability of certain acts, depending on context. On this basis, we argue that normalization hinders individual students’ ability to recognize and denounce sexual harassment. The influence of social norms on individual experiences and perceptions, we assert, means sexual harassment is neither an objective category nor an individual responsibility. In consequence, issues of sexual harassment can only be dealt with if and when universities assume responsibility for the norms that prevail within their spheres of influence.

Att förstå sexuella trakasserier – tre förklaringsmodeller och deras pedagogiska implikationer

“…Det talas om en bristande tilltro till system som ska skydda den som blir utsatt, men som i praktiken inte gör det (Svensson, 2020). Forskning visar också att den som tar upp sexuella trakasserier riskerar att förlöjligas (Guschke et al, 2019). På motsvarande sätt kan elever som inte rapporterar de kränkningar de utsätts för, uppge att de kän ner sig hjälplösa och att det inte är någon idé att tala med vuxna (deLara, 2012).…”

“…Målet är att ingen elev i skolan ska bli utsatt för sexuella trakasse rier av vare sig vuxna eller kamrater (SFS 2008:567). Detta mål försvåras av att var dagskunskap ofta används för att både identifiera och hantera sexuella trakasserier (Gillander Gådin, 2012;Gillander Gådin & Stein, 2019;Guschke et al, 2019;Lahelma, 2002). Ett annat problem kan vara om förståelsen endast utgår ifrån prevalensstudier där förekomst redovisas utan diskussion om bakomliggande orsaker (Bondestam & Lundqvist, 2020;Latcheva, 2017;McDonald, 2012).…”

Attitudes to Sexism and the #MeToo Movement at a Danish University

“…These risk factors suggest that academia is likely to have problems with sexual harassment. Indeed, a recent study amongst Danish university students found that 40% of students reported experiencing some form of sexual harassment and 58% reported witnessing such behaviour experienced by others (Guschke, Busse, Khalid, Muht, & Just, 2019). Another study amongst Danish University students showed that 22% reported personal experience with degrading comments about their gender, 8% reported unwanted physical contact, and 2% reported offensive sexual advances from a person in a superior power position (Magisterbladet, 2018).…”

Pelecehan Seksual Di Institusi Pendidikan: Sebuah Perspektif Kebijakan

“…Jumlah poin dalam menghitung perilaku pelecehan seksual ini berkisar antara 28 hingga 8. Bergantung kepada konteks yang digunakan, responden sering kali diberikan pertanyaan mengenai indikasi dalam pengalaman pelecehan seksual di dalam domain tertentu (Guschke et al, 2019).…”