Analysis Of Clay County's Policy For Sexual Harassment
What is Clay County’s policy for sexual harassment at the high school level? How does this compare to how other schools in the nation handle the issue of sexual harassment? Sexual harassment is defined by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC, as unwanted sexual advances and requests and other harassment of a sexual nature, which can be physical or verbal. The term “sexual harassment” itself was coined in 1975 by a small group of activists from Cornell University who were trying to think of a name for the behavior so it could be written on posters for an event they were planning (Brownmiller). Sexual harassment had always existed, but there was now a term to describe what millions of women—and, to a lesser extent, men—had been
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Thomason wants an improved way of reporting incidents and wants the school staff, who she says turn a blind eye to catcalling in the halls, to have better training for dealing with sexual harassment. The group raised over $60,000 for an awareness campaign. They made shirts and pins to pass out to students at no cost, as well as information on harassment and cyberbullying. They are working with the school principal to develop a short lesson about sexual harassment to be given to all students (Angell). Organizations like “BHS Stop Harassing” are a great way to bring awareness to the student population about sexual harassment and hold the school accountable for how they manage the situation. If similar student organizations were more common in high schools around the country, then sexual harassment in schools would likely decrease. These are just a few ideas of ways to combat this extremely common issue that plagues many students. The responsibility of fighting this is not just for the government, the school, or the students: it is everyone’s responsibility to do what they can to decrease sexual harassment, whether that means speaking up about experiencing sexual harassment, petitioning a school to put a new harassment policy in place, or bringing awareness to this nationwide
Thomason wants an improved way of reporting incidents and wants the school staff, who she says turn a blind eye to catcalling in the halls, to have better training for dealing with sexual harassment. The group raised over $60,000 for an awareness campaign. They made shirts and pins to pass out to students at no cost, as well as information on harassment and cyberbullying. They are working with the school principal to develop a short lesson about sexual harassment to be given to all students (Angell). Organizations like “BHS Stop Harassing” are a great way to bring awareness to the student population about sexual harassment and hold the school accountable for how they manage the situation. If similar student organizations were more common in high schools around the country, then sexual harassment in schools would likely decrease. These are just a few ideas of ways to combat this extremely common issue that plagues many students. The responsibility of fighting this is not just for the government, the school, or the students: it is everyone’s responsibility to do what they can to decrease sexual harassment, whether that means speaking up about experiencing sexual harassment, petitioning a school to put a new harassment policy in place, or bringing awareness to this nationwide