آزار جنسی در مدارس دولتی یهودی و عرب در اسرائیل

Abstract Objective: Current empirical literature on sexual harassment in schools is mostly based on nonrepresentative samples of middle-class high-school Caucasian female students. Thus the scope of research regarding gender, age, and cultural differences is very limited. This article reports on findings on sexual harassment in Jewish and Arab schools in Israel with regard to gender, age, and cultural differences. Method: The study is part of the first national survey on school violence in Israel. The representative sample includes 10,400 students in grades 7 through 11 attending public schools in Israel. Students were asked to report whether they were victims of specific acts of sexual harassment in school during the month before the survey. Results: Overall, 29.1% of the students were victims of at least one act of harassment. The more common acts were to show offensive pictures or to send obscene letters, to take off or to try to take off part of the student’s clothing, and to try to kiss a student. The most vulnerable groups are the Arab boys and 8th grade students. Report rates were the lowest among Arab girls. Conclusions: Sexual harassment is prevalent in Israeli schools. The pattern of victimization is different for boys and girls and for students in Jewish and Arab schools. These patterns are a complex phenomenon that must be considered in the intervention and policy measures addressing sexual harassment at school.

Introduction Over the past decade many sexual harassment studies have explored victimization of school students mainly in the US and other English-speaking cultures (Fineran & Bennett, 1998). Most of these studies were conducted using small convenience samples and were not nationally representative of their school-aged populations Bagley et al 1997, Fineran and Bennett 1998, Kopels and Dupper 1999, Stein 1995, Stein et al 1993 and Roscoe et al 1994. Furthermore, sexual harassment studies have generally not addressed gender and development related questions in diverse cultural settings; most, if not all, of the empirical literature is focused primarily on middle-class Caucasian students. As a start in extending the study of school sexual harassment to other cultures, this is the first representative study of sexual harassment issues in Middle Eastern schools. Here we describe victimization by sexual harassment in Jewish and Arab public school populations in Israel. We examine the frequency of specific behaviors that are considered forms of sexual harassment and explore how they vary with the students’ culture, gender, and age. The data presented here derive from a larger study on issues of school violence Benbenishty et al 2000 and Zeira et al in press and are based on a nationally representative sample of 10,400 Arab and Jewish students attending grades 7 through 11 at public schools in Israel. Israel’s population is multicultural, with many diverse religious and ethnic groups. The two largest groups are Jews and Arabs. The public schools of these two groups are segregated by language, and both are under the supervision of the Ministry of Education. Ninety percent of the Jewish population is secular or practices a modern Orthodox Judaism that identifies strongly with Western values and culture, tends to be more liberal about gender roles, rules of dress dealing with modesty, and open discussion on sexual issues in general. At the same time, 10% of the Jewish-Israeli population is Orthodox or ultra-Orthodox. This latter group is highly resistant to Western values, does not adhere to the same liberal Western values and gender roles, and has its own private educational system that is not supervised by the Israeli Ministry of Education. Almost a fifth of Israel’s population is Arab (19.6%). This Arab population is highly diverse in religion (Muslim, Christian, and Druze) and ethnic background. Even so, Arab groups within Israel share a similar history, language, and culture. Despite variation in liberal versus conservative attitudes within the Arab groups, many polls, articles, and surveys suggest that Israeli-Arabs, as a group, are generally conservative, traditional, and hierarchical with regard to sex roles, the centrality of the family, and socio-cultural hierarchy (Haj-Yahia, 1997). This study provides an epidemiologic perspective on sexual harassment of two non-English speaking cultures. The cultural segregation and the distinctness of Arab and Jewish schools in Israel provides a unique opportunity for investigating the phenomenon of school-based peer sexual harassment in the two very different cultures. Background and definitions Sexual harassment in schools is one of many behaviors considered to be part of school violence and student victimization. Acts of sexual harassment are diverse sets of behaviors that share a common goal of humiliating, intimidating, establishing dominance and hierarchy, and victimizing students based on their gender and by psychological and physical sexual means. Sexual harassment behaviors can range in severity from name calling and teasing to forms of sexual assault. Victims of sexual harassment often suffer short- and long-term effects in academic performance, social relations, and psychological aspects. In cases of extreme acts of sexual harassment (e.g., rape), the students carry negative emotional scars for the rest of their lives (Anderson, Reis, & Stephens, 1997). Over the past decade the body of literature on sexual harassment has grown significantly. However, it mostly consists of nonempirical information. While many articles discuss what is sexual harassment and how to recognize it, others suggest practical guidelines for dealing with it (e.g., Duncan 1999 and Stein 1995). Many treatment manuals aimed at raising awareness of the problem and encouraging victims to report on acts of such violence have been published in recent years. In contrast, the empirical data on sexual harassment in schools is very limited. There is also no agreement in the literature about the theoretical roots of sexual harassment in secondary schools (Lee, Croninger, Linn, & Chen, 1996). Many researchers have speculated that sexual harassment is a precursor to dating violence and/or domestic violence later in life (Molidor & Tolman, 1998). Others argue that sexual harassment is part of a larger patriarchal pattern, and that sexual harassment is a reflection of the society’s mores and views towards male/female relationships (Fineran & Bennett, 1998). Large scale and cross-cultural studies on school sexual harassment are needed to better understand its theoretical grounds and to situate the US and European sexual harassment studies in a global context. Patterns of sexual harassment Victimization by sexual harassment may either be investigated in terms of cumulative acts of harassment or distinct types of sexual harassment behaviors. While some studies report on victimization by any form of sexual harassment (Lee et al., 1996), other studies provide data on victimization by specific acts Bagley et al 1997 and Stein et al 1993. Careful examination of separate acts of sexual harassment is necessary for a better understanding of the relative contributions of culture, gender, and age to victimization by sexual harassment. For example, it is possible that in certain cultures different specific forms of victimization are more prevalent during different developmental stages and for different genders. Such studies could illuminate which sexual harassment issues are gender specific, age specific, culturally specific, or combinations of these variables. Gender related issues It is commonly believed that sexual harassment is directed primarily at girls (Fineran & Bennett, 1998), but empirical data indicate that this is not entirely correct. Some studies investigated only the victimization of girls Bagley et al 1997, Stein et al 1993 and Strauss and Espeland 1992, while others, dealing with both girls and boys, have reported high rates of sexual victimization also among boys American Association of University Women 1993 and Lee et al 1996. Gender appears to be the strongest personal characteristic related to violence in secondary schools (Lee et al., 1996); boys are generally more involved in school violence and bullying than girls are (see Furlong et al 1998, Olweus 1993 and Zeira et al in press). However, it is important to examine whether this also applies to sexual harassment. It is possible that gender-conflict and the pursuit of a desired sexual identity by both boys and girls causes a different pattern. Age related issues There is sparse data on age-related differences in victimization by sexual harassment in secondary schools. Research on other forms of school violence has shown that younger students are more likely to be victimized than older students Benbenishty et al 2000, Furlong et al 1997 and Olweus 1993. The nature of interactions between boys and girls also appears to vary with age, and as they grow older the context of the interaction is more influenced by gender (Duncan, 1999). It is important to learn about age-related differences because interventions aimed at reducing sexual harassment may need to be targeted to different age groups from those involved in other forms of school violence. Culture-related issues The present study provides a unique opportunity for investigating the cultural context of school sexual harassment, since the Arab and Jewish populations in Israel form two different cultural groups. As mentioned earlier, the Jewish population is more Western and liberal with regard to sexual issues and gender roles, while the Arab population is more conservative and traditional (Haj-Yahia, 1997). Even though there is a variation among both populations, analyses of victimization in the Arab population as a whole support feminist thoughts that victimization is higher in more hierarchically-oriented patriarchal cultures. Studies on domestic violence in Arab societies have shown that the patriarchal and male dominance perspective correlates with favoring the use of aggression and demonstrations of physical power Haj-Yahia 1997 and Haj-Yahia 1998. Findings from the first national survey on school violence (Zeira et al., in press) indicate that Arab students report more on being victims of severe acts of violence (e.g., threats with a weapon), while the report rates of the Jewish students were higher on the less severe violent behaviors (e.g., cursing). It is unclear if acts of sexual harassment follow patterns of school violence or patterns of family violence. Therefore, it is important to explore school sexual harassment as a separate kind of context-situated aggression in these two cultural groups. Foci of the study and research questions Sexual harassment in school occurs on two axes (Stein, 1995). One is between peers and the other is between adults and students. Following previous findings that peer sexual harassment is a severe problem in schools (Kopels & Dupper, 1999), we focus here on sexual harassment that occurs between students on school related grounds. The timeframe considered by the student when sexual harassment occurred (e.g., past month, past year, school lifetime, etc.) has been a serious methodological problem in most sexual harassment surveys. Some studies have explored sexual harassment experience in general or over the entire lifetime of the student in school, while other studies have referred to a limited range of time—from one year to all years in high school (Fineran & Bennett, 1998). With very low frequency events (such as rape) it is often better to ask yearlong or lifetime questions. However, with high frequency events (which many acts of sexual harassment in schools appear to be), shorter timeframes provide more accurate data. Hence, in this study, we explore the prevalence of specific acts of sexual harassment during a period of 30 days. This timeframe is consistent with other national and international surveys of frequent events such as school fights, name calling, and vandalism Furlong et al 1998 and Olweus 1993. This article aims to describe the prevalence of various acts of sexual harassment in Israeli schools and to discuss the implications for policy and practice. More specifically, the research questions are: (1) What is the scope of cumulative versus specific acts of sexual harassment in school over a period of 30 days? (2) What are the patterns of the different acts of sexual harassment among boys and girls? (3) What are the patterns of the different acts of sexual harassment among students at different grade levels? and (4) What are the patterns of the different acts of sexual harassment among Jewish and Arab students?

Results The students were asked to indicate whether a series of events, which are all related to sexual harassment, had actually happened to them in school during the month before the survey. Overall, 29.1% of the students reported being victims of at least one act of sexual harassment during the past month. Of these, 6.7% were victims of four or more different acts of harassment. Fig. 1 presents the percentage of students experiencing at least one act of sexual harassment by gender, grade level, and culture group. Reports are higher among the boys (range of 21.0% to 50.5% for the boys and 11.4% to 35.7% for the girls). Reports of sexual harassment reach a peak in 8th grade for all subgroups and decrease in the higher grades. Of the two cultural groups, Arab boys are clearly the most vulnerable group, showing at the upper line in Fig. 1 with a range of 33.0% to 50.5%. In contrast, Arab girls appear at the lower line with reports ranging from 11.0% to 23.3%. Percentage of students experiencing at least one act of sexual harassment by ... Fig. 1. Percentage of students experiencing at least one act of sexual harassment by gender, grade level, and culture group. Figure options Table 2 gives the overall distribution of the different acts of sexual harassment among boys and girls. The boys’ reports are higher than the girls’ in almost all items. For example, 16.0% boys were victims of other students who showed them offensive pictures or sent them obscene letters. The most disturbing harassment for the girls was when a student tried to hit on them or make unwanted sexual remarks (10.9%). While 13.0% boys reported that other students tried to or took off their clothes when they didn’t agree, “only” 2.8% of the girls were victimized by this act. Students also frequently reported being kissed when they didn’t want it (12.5% boys and 7.2% girls). Finally, 12.1% of the boys and 10.7% girls reported that other students tried to touch them in a sexual manner, again without their consent. Table 2. Percentage of students’ reports on specific acts of sexual harassment by gender Item Boys Girls % % A student showed you offensive pictures or sent you obscene letters without your consent 16.0 7.9 A student took off, or tried to take off part of your clothes, when you didn’t agree 13.0 2.8 A student tried to kiss you even when you didn’t want it 12.5 7.2 A student tried to touch you in a sexual manner, when you didn’t want it 12.1 10.7 A student peeked while you were in the bathroom 9.6 4.6 A student tried to hit on you and made sexual remarks you didn’t want 9.4 10.9 Sexually insulting things about you were written on walls or spread as rumors 9.2 6.9 Table options We further analyzed the patterns of distribution of the specific acts of sexual harassment by gender, age, and culture, comparing the distribution of reports for Jewish and Arab boys and girls by grade levels. Fig. 2 presents the distribution of the respondents’ reports to the item “a student took off or tried to take off part of your clothes when you didn’t agree.” While the reports of the girls range between 1.5% to 4.7% for the Jewish and 1.4% to 3.4% for the Arab, the boys’ reports are about four times higher; 4.7% to 17% for the Arab and 7.2% to 17.9% for the Jewish boys. For all subgroups, the reports are the highest in the 7th grade. The pattern of the Jewish and Arab boys is approximately similar with regard to age differences, showing a sharp decline with age. The pattern of the Jewish girls’ is opposite to that of the Arab girls. While the reports of the Jewish girls decline from 8th to 9th grade and rise again at 10th grade, the Arab girls’ reports rise from 8th to 9th grade and decline in 10th grade. Distribution of reports on the item “A student took off or tried to take off ... Fig. 2. Distribution of reports on the item “A student took off or tried to take off part of your clothes when you didn’t agree” by gender, grade level, and culture group. Figure options Fig. 3 shows the four subgroups’ reports on the item “a student tried to touch you in a sexual manner when you didn’t want it.” The Arab boys are the most victimized group (ranging from 12.2% in 11th grade to 19.4% in 8th grade), while the Arab girls’ reports are the lowest (ranging from 2.0% in 11th grade to 6.2% in 8th grade). Within the Jewish subgroup, in grades 7 through 9 (i.e., junior high school) the girls are more victimized, while in 10th and 11th grades the boys’ reports are higher. Victimization reports for all subgroups are clearly highest in 8th grade. Distribution of reports on the item “A student tried to touch you in a sexual ... Fig. 3. Distribution of reports on the item “A student tried to touch you in a sexual manner when you didn’t want it” by gender, grade level, and culture group. Figure options Fig. 4 illustrates the gender and culture differences in grade levels 7 to 11 with respect to the item “a student tried to kiss you even when you didn’t want it.” The uppermost line at all age levels represents the Arab boys, with two to three times more reports than the rest of the students. For the Arab boys, this harassing behavior peaks at 7th grade and declines with age. The lowest line in Fig. 4 shows the Arab girls. The highest report rates for the Arab girls are at 7th grade, with a slight age-related decrease. The Jewish boys and girls in the 7th and 8th grades have similar report rates that increase (more for the Jewish boys) with age and peaks for the girls at 9th grade (8.8%) and for the boys at 10th grade (13.1%). Distribution of reports on the item “A student tried to kiss you even when you ... Fig. 4. Distribution of reports on the item “A student tried to kiss you even when you didn’t want it” by gender, grade level, and culture group. Figure options The distribution of the respondents to the item “a student peeked while you were in the bathroom” is illustrated in Fig. 5. Here, the Arab boys’ reports are by far higher than the rest of the students. Each subgroup portrays a different trend with regard to age. The highest report rates are at the 8th grade, with the exception of the Jewish boys whose highest rate is at the 9th grade. However, some decrease can be seen for all the students in the 11th grades. In grades 7 through 10, the Arab girls report more on this item than the Jewish girls. Fig. 5 reveals gender differences in each culture group. Boys’ reports are much higher than the girls’ at all age levels. For example, in the 9th grade, 10.1% of the Jewish boys compared with 3.9% of the Jewish girls reported another student peeking at them in the bathroom. At the same time, twice as many Arab boys than Arab girls reported being victims of such a behavior (14.2% compared to 7.4%). Distribution of reports on the item “A student peeked while you were in the ... Fig. 5. Distribution of reports on the item “A student peeked while you were in the bathroom” by gender, grade level, and culture group. Figure options Fig. 6 presents the distribution of the respondents to the item “a student tried to hit on you and made sexual remarks you didn’t want.” The pattern here is clearly ordered over all age groups: Arab boys are the most victimized subgroup, three to six times more than the Arab girls (12.5% to 18.9% compared with 2.0% to 5.7%). The Jewish girls are the second most victimized group (9.7% to 13.6%), followed by the Jewish boys with reports ranging from 7.2% to 8.8%. This behavior peaks in 8th grade for all subgroups except the Jewish girls, where the reports peak at the 11th grade. Distribution of reports on the item “A student tried to hit on you and made ... Fig. 6. Distribution of reports on the item “A student tried to hit on you and made sexual remarks you didn’t want” by gender, grade level, and culture group. Figure options The distribution for the subgroups of the item “sexually insulting things about you were written on walls or spread as rumors” given in Fig. 7 presents a complex pattern. This behavior peaks at 8th grade (except for the Jewish girls, where highest report rates were in 7th grade). There is a sharp decline in reports from Arab boys from 8th to 10th grade (17.2–5.8%, respectively). The Arab girls’ reports are higher than the reports of the Jewish girls in 8th and 9th grades. This harassing behavior is less prevalent among the older students (in grades 10 and 11) than among the younger students (grades 7–9). Distribution of reports on the item “Sexually insulting things were written on ... Fig. 7. Distribution of reports on the item “Sexually insulting things were written on walls or spread as rumors” by gender, grade level, and culture group. Figure options Fig. 8 gives the distribution of the reports to the item “a student showed you offensive pictures or sent you obscene letters without your consent.” Both Arab and Jewish boys report this behavior twice as often as Arab and Jewish girls, respectively. The Arab group is more vulnerable to this behavior than the Jewish group (ranges 5.0–28.0% and 3.4–19.0%, respectively). The reports of the Jewish students peak at 7th grade (10.6% for girls and 19% for boys) while Arab students’ reports peak at 8th grade (14% and 28% for girls and boys. respectively). Some decrease with age can be seen for all subgroups. Distribution of reports on the item “A student showed you offensive pictures or ... Fig. 8. Distribution of reports on the item “A student showed you offensive pictures or sent you obscene letters without your consent” by gender, grade level, and culture group.