School peer sexual harassment and teen dating violence: What's the difference?

Abstract

The relationship between perpetrator and target, as a factor in school peer sexual harassment, has been particularly neglected (Stein, 1999). This relationship spans nonromantic and romantic interest between peers. This paper focuses on peer relationship, as a dimension of overlap and intersection between peer school sexual harassment and dating violence. My project is a qualitative interview-study of the sexual harassment experiences of eighteen 13 to 20-year-olds, particularly where there is romantic interest involved between harasser and target. The study's findings show school sexual harassment and teen dating violence to overlap and intersect in the areas of behavior (physical or nonphysical), relationship (romantic or nonromantic), and location (more private to more public places at or away from school). Important contextual information about school sexual harassment revealed by the data includes: (1) school sexual harassment occurring in all peer relationships, including dating and ex-dating relationships, (2) patterns of school sexual harassment behavior that resemble obsessive control in stalking and dating violence, (3) the protracted or violent nature of the harassment (like dating violence), and (4) the high levels of upset and injury experienced by the target (similar to dating violence). My results suggest that peer relationship context is critical to understanding significant aspects of peer sexual harassment, including the power and gender dynamics which underlie the behaviors, and to revealing its similarities and overlap with dating violence.