School Harassment

I was at lunch and as I was walking around I saw my friend (calling him J) and I

decided to talk to him and hang around him till we had our next class. We were small

talking until we ran into one of his friends and we all started talking. Then the bell rang

and we had to head to our physics class. When going to the class J slaps my ass I look

at him and he was looking away acting like nothing happened. I was completely

shocked and stopped walking. I didn't know what happened nor realized if it was true. I

couldn’t say a word or ask why he did it. I felt embarrassed and I wondered if anyone

else saw it.

After that, I got away from him and went right to my desk, and sat down in my

seat. As I was sitting the bell rang to announce class started Mrs.Beck took roll. Then

started talking about the starter put on the board about some physics topic. I can’t

remember what it was because I was still stuck on the thought of what happened and

wondering why he slapped me? I honestly didn’t know what to do or who to tell.

After we did the starter we were asked to go into our groups so we could do a

lab. The people in my group were some friends and then I also was there as I was going

to the corner of the class and he slapped me again. I stood still. I was so uncomfortable

and wondering if I should stand up against him. Wanted to slap him across the face but I

had a sense of caution. I was worried that the story would be switched and that no one

would believe me. I stayed quiet and I kept thinking over and over in my head asking

myself what was wrong with me? What did I do wrong? Why did he do that to me? Plus

my mind couldn't stop. I had one of my lab partners Noah come up to me and ask if I
was okay and he asked me some questions about the situation. I brushed it off because

I thought J was my friend and later told him in private to not do anything like that again.

He said sure and that he was sorry but it was effortless and felt insincere. It stopped but

he found other ways to sexually harass me. I did tell the school but nothing happened. It

was brushed aside and he had no consequences.

I’m not the only one in this problem there are others like me ¨Nearly half of all

students between grades 7 and 12 reports experiencing sexual harassment, often

perpetrated by their classmates” (Preventing Sexual Harassment at School, n.d.). With

this being such a high percentage we need to teach and reach out to students. Give

information and make it known; we need to talk about it so we can stop the problem and

have a safe environment for students. So we can stop worse instances of sexual

harassment from happening.

Source: Preventing Sexual Harassment at School. (n.d.). Harvard Graduate School of

Education. Retrieved February 3, 2022, from

https://www.gse.harvard.edu/uk/preventing-sexual-harassment-school