The issue of sexual harassment and assault that the #MeToo campaign has exposed is now shifting from celebrities and political figures to a much younger age group; students at a Florida middle school are now being suspended for similar allegations.
Faculty at Daniel Jenkins Academy in Haines City, Florida, have had to report three separate instances of sexual harassment in the last six months among students to the administration of the middle school, according to a science teacher at the middle school who wished to remain anonymous.
"The boys are bullying girls and calling them really ugly names, things like 'whore' and 'slut'," said the teacher. "For a while, they were saying it so that no one else could hear it other than the girls that were being targeted so they kept getting away with it."
In one instance described by the teacher, a student confided in the teacher that a boy had been following her in the hallways and harassed her about her body.
"He keeps trying to sit next to her in class but I'm doing my best to keep her separated from him, there's not really much else I can do," said the teacher. "Only the administration has the power to punish the boys for their actions."
Only two boys have been suspended from the Academy in the last two years, yet numerous instances have been reported to the administration. According to the teacher, the school board handles cases of sexual harassment in the same manner that it does bullying.
"In the school board, if you don't prove that it's happening and that it's constant then they won't do much about it," said the teacher.
The administration has declined to comment on this issue.
The teacher has advised female students experiencing these issues to keep a booklet that documents each instance to help prove that they are facing these issues to the administration.
"Last year there was a girl on the bus who was being harassed and no one believed her," said the teacher. "That's when I started suggesting to girls to keep a journal. They shouldn't have to do things like that but it seems like the only way to help them."
In trying to determine the causes of these issues among pre-teen aged kids, it is important to look at how the child has been raised as well as their levels of impulse control, said Dr. Jill Driest, a licensed pediatric psychologist.
"There are lots of different reasons for potential sexual behavior problems. Most of the research discusses chaotic family life, poor parenting practices, maltreatment in childhood, or other mental health concerns as contributing factors," said Driest. "Obviously, in these situations, it is always important for the child to receive effective interventions to deal with the problems - as early as possible."
Apart from psychological explanations, the teacher from Daniel Jenkins believes that cultural factors are a major cause of the inappropriate behavior among the middle school boys.
“There’s less of a sense of community than we had 20 years ago. I’ve noticed this erosion throughout the school. There’s a huge shift in the way kids behave and it has to do with respect,” the teacher said.
The video games, movies and television shows that kids are being exposed to nowadays play a major role in shaping how young boys view girls their age, says the teacher.
“I think it’s pervasive in the media, the media promotes women as objects. If you watch a lot of television, girls are in sexy outfits and even in the video games they play, the avatars of the women are all voluptuous and sexy and it just promotes seeing women as a second-class citizen and as an object rather than as a person,” the teacher said.
The likelihood that this issue is only prominent at Daniel Jenkins Academy is slim; when dealing with issues of sexual harassment and assault, typically there is a pattern shown that presents it to be a reoccurring problem.
According to a 2014 study conducted by the University of Florida’s Professor Dorothy Espelage, of 1,300 middle school students studied, one quarter of them reported having experienced verbal and physical sexual harassment.
“This is a reflection of our culture. It’s a reflection of what’s on television, a lack of respect,” said the teacher. “Daniel Jenkins Academy is mostly Hispanic. It seems as if their culture is different. They’re told by their mothers ‘You better not touch the girls,’ and I don’t think this happens often enough in American culture. There’s a real cultural divide between the Hispanic kids, the kids from the islands and Central America and the kids who grew up here in the United States.”
Written: February 27, 2018
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