View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Brock University Digital Repository Running head: THE NORMALIZATION OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT “It’s just inappropriate”: The normalization of sexual harassment in Ontario schools as revealed through teachers’ stories Lauren Quinn, B.A Social Justice and Equity Studies Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Faculty of Social Sciences, Brock University St. Catharines, Ontario © 2016 THE NORMALIZATION OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN SCHOOLS ii Dedication I dedicate this thesis project to Rehtaeh Parsons, Amanda Todd and their families. Although a lot of the media coverage of these two cases has quieted down since I began my thesis, there are still many researchers, feminists, bloggers and teachers who have not forgotten these girls and the horrible trauma that they experienced. We are still here marching in the streets, writing and critiquing rape culture discourses that make the world unsafe for many marginalized folks including girls, women, gender-nonconforming folks, boys, and men who do not adhere to the desired “dominant” versions of masculinity. When I thought about Rehtaeh and Amanda during those late nights and early mornings working on this project, it reminded me why I had chosen to write about sexual violence and encouraged me to keep writing. THE NORMALIZATION OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN SCHOOLS iii Abstract This study examines teachers’ experiences witnessing and addressing the sexual harassment of girls by boys in elementary and secondary schools in Southern Ontario. Through a feminist, poststructural framework using feminist methodologies, I interviewed seven teachers from different schools in order to determine teachers’ experiences witnessing, addressing and hearing about student-to-student sexual harassment. Although participants’ experiences varied, their responses revealed that sexual harassment is normalized, naturalized and reinforced in secondary and elementary schools. Themes that surfaced revealed how their understandings of sexual harassment existed outside of power relations; how language is “softened” when describing sexual harassment and sexism; how the seriousness of sexual harassment was minimized; and how gendered Islamophobia intersected with the normalization of sexual harassment. Acts of resistance challenging pervasive discourses that normalize the sexual harassment of girls by boys also arose during interviews. Key words: sexual harassment; sexism; feminist poststructuralism; teachers; gendered Islamophobia; rape culture; gender THE NORMALIZATION OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN SCHOOLS iv Acknowledgements In the first year of my undergrad, my Dad told me that school is not necessarily about academic intelligence, but emotional intelligence. I came to fully understand what he meant through the construction of this thesis. I truly could not have completed this project without the support from my friends, family and the SJES community helping me persevere when there sometimes seemed to be no end in sight. First of all, thank you, thank you, thank you to my incredibly talented advisor, Rebecca Raby for being so supportive and offering such attentive academic and “life” advice. Rebecca, you have challenged me while also providing me with such support and I am so grateful to you. Thank you to Mary-Beth Raddon as Program Director for all your continued support throughout the three years that I have worked on my thesis and for leaving extra food for us hungry students in the grad lab. You will truly be missed as Program Director. Thank you to my very understanding and patient committee members, Nancy Taber and Leanne Taylor for their diligent and insightful comments. I’m incredibly humbled by all the wisdom you have shared with me in this project. Thank you Dad for the clam chowder that I consumed for nourishment while completing the daunting tasks of the thesis. Thank you Mom for instilling in me that education is important and for introducing me to feminism. You’ve taught me that discourses truly are competing and complex. Thank you to my Auntie Doreen and Uncle Garry for supporting me like second parents and providing me a comfortable bed during visits back home. THE NORMALIZATION OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN SCHOOLS v Thank you to all the friends and family members for sending me funny memes on the days when I felt like I was trying to make lemonade out of lemons that had no juice left. Thank you Jenna Parry for acting as my “thesis midwife” during the last final pushes and for disappearing into the woods with me for two weeks to focus on our writing. Thank you to my SJES family, Blaire, Lisa, Dan, Katie P., Ezgi, Kate Macdonald, Carissa, Jenna and Sam. We have been through some amazing ups and downs together and I’ve gained incredibly valuable insights in the world because of you. Thank you for being an incredible mentor to me, Judy Colangelo and for all your continued support and amazing work supporting survivors of sexual violence. Thank you to all the feminist bloggers, the Brock SASA team (Students Against Sexual Assault) and campus activists for bringing the concepts that I have been writing about into practice. THE NORMALIZATION OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN SCHOOLS vi Table of Contents Title Page _____________________________________________________________ i Dedication ____________________________________________________________ ii Abstract _____________________________________________________________ iii Acknowledgement _____________________________________________________ iv Table of Contents _____________________________________________________ vi Introduction ___________________________________________________________ 1 Chapter 1: Literature Review _____________________________________________ 9 Introduction _________________________________________________________ 9 Defining sexual harassment ___________________________________________ 10 Homophobia and the regulation of heterosexuality _________________________ 11 School dress codes and their role in perpetuating sexual harassment ____________ 13 Anti-bullying discourses ______________________________________________ 15 Teachers’ experiences ________________________________________________ 19 Understandings of sexual harassment _________________________________ 19 Perceptions of masculine violence ____________________________________ 22 Personal experiences with sexual harassment ___________________________ 22 Working conditions, resources, support and education ____________________ 25 Conclusion _________________________________________________________ 30 Chapter 2: Theoretical Framework – Feminist Poststructuralism ______________ 31 Introduction ________________________________________________________ 31 Poststructuralism: A challenge to humanism ______________________________ 33 Humanism and poststructuralism _____________________________________ 36 Poststructuralism and the education system _____________________________ 37 Agency in poststructuralism ___________________________________________ 38 Language __________________________________________________________ 39 Discourse in poststructuralism _________________________________________ 41 Competing discourses _____________________________________________ 44 The dominant discourses of masculinity _______________________________ 45 The dominant discourses of femininity ________________________________ 47 Performing “correct” identities of masculinity and femininity ______________ 49 How the gendering of students perpetuates sexual harassment _____________ 52 How discourses sustaining compulsory heterosexuality perpetuate sexual harassment _________________________________________________________ 53 Challenging existing discourses: resistance _______________________________ 55 Chapter 3: Methodology and Method _____________________________________ 61 Introduction ________________________________________________________ 61 Qualitiative, Feminist Poststructuralist Methodology ________________________ 61 Method: Interviews __________________________________________________ 64 Recruitment _____________________________________________________ 66 Participants ______________________________________________________ 69 Ethics and informed consent ________________________________________ 71 The interview questions ____________________________________________ 72 Fulfilling social justice goals / challenging dominant discourses ____________ 76 THE NORMALIZATION OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN SCHOOLS vii Reflexivity in feminist poststructural research ___________________________ 77 Coding the data ___________________________________________________ 81 The researchers’ role in making meaning ______________________________ 84 Limitations in research _____________________________________________ 86 Conclusion _________________________________________________________ 87 Chapter 4: Findings ____________________________________________________ 88 Introduction ________________________________________________________ 88 Understanding Sexual Harassment Outside of Power Relations _______________ 89 Conflating sexual harassment with consensual sexual acts between adolescents 90 Conflating sexual harassment with adolescent males’ sexual attraction and desire __________________________________________________________________ 97 Conflating sexual harassment with sexual attraction and sexual orientation ___ 100 Conclusion _____________________________________________________ 102 Language that normalizes