SURIGAO STATE COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOY

Surigao City

MR. CHRISTIAN JOY E. JACOBE

BSED - ENGLISH 1A
Course Description: Educ 2 The Teaching Profession
Teacher:DR. LEONIELYN G. MALICAY

When enough is enough - Sexual Harassment in the classroom

“Last week, I was working in a Communication Engineering lab with another girl and a few
guys. The girl, who was facing the door, suddenly asked rather coldly if someone could close the
door. We looked up, only to see a guy mid-bite through his banana, staring blankly at this woman's
breasts. He clearly saw no problem with his behaviour, and continued to gawk at her even after it
had been brought to everyone's attention. As someone moved to close the door, he casually walked
off.”

Many people believe that university offers students protection from the real world while they
are studying, and is not an environment that would breed such problems as sexual harassment and
discrimination. Unfortunately, this is far from the truth. If my experiences and the experiences of
many other women I know are anything to go by, sexual harassment is very much a part of Royal
Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), and needs the help of everyone staff, students and
others in order to eliminate it.

But the problem is, most women probably wouldn't tell you, as they do not think that it would
be considered important, no matter how it may have affected them. And this problem is not only
confined to women. Sexual harassment is not about sexual intimacy, it is about power, and can
happen to any one, by any one, regardless of gender. The reason that the most common situation is
a male harassing a female is due to the unequal status of women in society, and hence the use of
intimidation by a man in order to overpower a woman.

This is most apparent in the more male dominated courses. I am currently studying Computer
Systems Engineering and Computer Science, and when it comes time to work in a group for a
project, I invariably find myself the only female in the group. This more often than not leads to an
assumption by some of the guys in the group that they can use this fact in order to get me to do
more than my share of the work. Last year, the need arose to meet on the weekend to work on a
group assignment that was due that Monday, and the three of us arranged to meet at one of the
guy's flats. After about an hour of work, one of them left, saying that he needed to get something
from his house. As he left, the other male student closed the door, and deadlocked it. When I asked
him why he did that, he responded by putting the key in his pocket and informing me that he didn't
like his women running away when he was raping them. The fact that this student had a warped
sense of humour, and that this was his idea of a joke was irrelevant, because at that moment all I
could think about was that I was deadlocked inside

of a flat, with a guy who was making jokes about raping women. All I could do was throw myself
into the work we had to do in order to avoid thinking about what he had just said. When the other
student returned, I found out why he had gone in the first place. He had brought with him a French
porno, suggesting that he and his friend watch it, while 'the woman does the work'. This was the
last straw. I told them that if they attempted to watch the video, I would pack up and leave, forcing
them to finish the report on their own. They cut their losses and put the tape away.
 This article is written for women and assumes a male offender, however SECASA
acknowledges that both men and women can be survivors of sexual abuse and that offenders can be
male and female.
The Author of this article is Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) by Claire
Hennekam.