MIGHT AS WELL OUTLAW ADOLESCENCE.

A Reason "Brickbat" some twenty years ago reacted to a report on rampant sexual harassment in middle schools that way.  The most recent report from the American Association of University Women suggests not much has changed.

During the 2010-11 school year, 48% of students in grades 7-12 experienced some form of sexual harassment in person or electronically, according to a national survey being released today by the American Association of University Women.

Nearly a third of the victims said the harassment made them feel sick to their stomach, affected their study habits or fueled reluctance to go to school at all.

"It's reached a level where it's almost a normal part of the school day," says one of the report's co-authors, Catherine Hill, AAUW director of research.

The survey asked 1,002 girls and 963 boys from public and private schools whether they had experienced any of various forms of sexual harassment. These included having someone make unwelcome sexual comments, being called gay or lesbian in a negative way, being touched in an unwelcome sexual way, being shown sexual pictures they didn't want to see, and being the subject of unwelcome sexual rumors.

At Minding the Campus, John Leo breaks down the aggregates.

The current survey shows small numbers of students experiencing behavior that most of us would consider real sexual harassment. “Being touched in an unwelcome way” was checked off by 3 percent of boys and 13 percent of girls. “Being shown sexy or sexual pictures that you did not want to see” drew 10 percent of boys and 16 percent of girls. But the AAUP inflates the numbers with a dubious catch-all category: “Having someone make unwelcome sexual comments, jokes or gestures to or about you.” This means that a discussion of the many sexual situations in TV sitcoms could count as harassment, as could the many sexual one-liners adolescents are famous for, not to mention mildly embarrassing but harmless comments such as “You didn’t have a date last Saturday, Matilda?” “Being the subject of unwelcome sexual rumors” is a legitimate category, but broad enough to include nearly all gossip about sex and dating. The category of gestures would surely include flipping someone the bird, and if unwelcome glances count too, as they do, the real question raised in this survey would be why is the sexual harassment rate not at least 100 percent? In addition “being called gay or lesbian in a negative way” (18 percent for girls as well as boys) would include the familiar male-to-male taunt of “faggot” which is certainly not pleasant but not always real harassment either.

He's referring to the AAUW, not the AAUP (the lobbying organization for professors), but it's an understandable error, as both organizations have an interest in diverting attention from the academy's efforts to make the transgressive mainstream, no matter that the common culture is deconstructed and coarsened as a consequence.

The AAUW does these questionable surveys every few years. “Hostile Hallways,” the 2001 version using similar inflate-the-numbers wording, showed that 81 percent of 8^th to 11^th graders had been harassed, and that 18 percent of those students fear that someone would hurt or bother them. The “hurt or bother” construction is familiar from college codes which commonly forbid explicitly serious offenses then go on to list increasing dubious categories of speech that the offended hearers may regard as having the intent or result of ridiculing or annoying.” Fear of being bothered is sexual harassment.

As usual, the AAUW benefits mightily from incurious reporting. The Associated Press report today said the study indicated an “epidemic” of sexual harassment in secondary schools with “wrenching” effects. One the study’s co-authors, Catherine Hill, AAUW director of research, was quoted as saying "It’s reached a level where it’s almost a normal part of the school day," an excited conclusion not justified by the numbers provided.

At Via Media, there is more.

Teenage boys behaving badly? Via Meadia is indescribably shocked.  But this study may only be scratching the surface.  We also hear distressing rumors that “cool” kids make fun of and belittle others.  “Jocks”, we hear, often mock the lack of athletic prowess of those they unkindly label as “nerds” and “geeks”.  In some schools, there are reports that young people with severe cases of acne are the subject of pitiless mirth.  Middle school, it is rumored, is a particularly vicious social snake pit where cliques of young girls do everything in their power to shame and isolate others who do not meet their standards for appearance and behavior.

Via Meadia is grateful to be living in an age of social science when adults with advanced degrees can give these vital issues the deep attention and scrutiny they deserve.  More studies, please, not to mention more polls, more detailed and intrusive regulations, and more sensitivity training.  More attention must be paid and more money spent.  Immediately.

I suppose sensitivity training is more enlightened than child labor. Nothing like twelve hours sorting coal or tending bobbins to damp down the horseplay.