„Провокативните“ девојчиња и „нечувствителните момчиња“: меѓуврсничко сексуално вознемирување и креирање полово нееднаква атмосфера во основните училишта
„Provocative“ girls and „insensitive” boys: Peer sexual harassment and creation of gender unequal climate in elementary schools

Summary/Abstract: The basic problem of this research is connected with exploring the experiences of peer sexual harassment among elementary school girls and boys (7th and 8th grade). The study also focuses on identifying teachers’ perception of the frequency of several types of peer sexual harassment as well as teachers’ attributions why the girls and the boys are victims of it. The research is carried out in four primary schools – one rural and three urban, on a sample of 187 students and 80 teachers. The data analysis shows that (a) girls are more frequently victims in case of five out of the nine form of sexual harassment (b) boys do not declare to be more frequently victims in any of the harassing behaviors (c) the percent of girls who are repeatedly victims of harassment is considerably higher than the percent of boys with the same experience (d) the majority of sexualлy harassing behaviors are perpetuated by boys more frequently than by girls (е) teachers have adequate picture of the distribution of sexual harassment along gender lines, and (f) according to the teachers, girls are victims because they dress themselves in a provocative way and because their male peers are not aware enough that some kinds of behavior are actually harassing. These conditions clearly suggest that the elementary school girls and the boys are situated quite differently in terms of their experiences with sexual harassment. Taking into account the elementary schools in the country are gender insensitive environment where almost no preventive or intervention actions against sexual violence are taken, girls are clearly more vulnerable to the consequences of sexual harassment.

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