Sexual Harassment, Peer-to-Peer

Sexual harassment is pervasive on college campuses, with reports indicating that instances of harassment are on the rise. Sexually harassing behaviors take the form of calling others disparaging names of a sexual nature, touching, grabbing, pinching, and visually subjecting another to genitalia. However, students report that the most common form of sexual harassment is being subjected to vulgar comments, sexual jokes, and ogling. Although both male and female students report being sexually harassed by their peers, females are the more common victims of the harassing behavior. Further, in a report published by the American Association of University Women, one-third of victims failed to report the harassing behavior. In light of the significant legal issues that emerge, this entry examines associated questions by examining representative cases ...