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Warning: Story contains details of sexual abuse.
A students’ survey at Avonside Girls High School and Shirley Boys High School has found some are being sexually harassed at school, online, or when socialising outside school grounds.
The survey of sexual harassment was carried out at between 29 August and 2 September 2022.
It follows last year’s study of sexual harassment in Christchurch Girls’ High School, which received significant publicity.
At Avonside Girls High School, online harassment and electronic images were experienced by around 40% of participants, rating, body shaming, catcalling and taunts were common, followed by a wide range of physical and sexual acts, up to and including rape.
In the first two terms of 2022, 379 participants reported a very high 2650 incidents of sexual harassment or seven per student who had experienced harassment.
The worst incidents included 21 sexual assaults of rape or near-rape, 25 other cases where consent was withheld, 32 cases of unwanted touching in a sexual manner, 26 instances of sexual assault within families, more than 50 ‘worst’ incidents involving online harassment, eight reported cases of sexual harassment at work, many cases of verbal and physical harassment on buses and more than 30 reports of participants who were harassed as young children.
The Shirley Boys High School survey
The Shirley Boys High School survey noted that some students were concerned with the culture of the school the concept of the ‘Shirley Man’, the culture of the school, and the treatment of sexual harassment as a ‘joke.’
The types of harassment experienced by victims tended to be physical, including touching, slapping and fingering.
However, body-shaming, rating on looks, and taunting were also common.
The most commonly cited ‘worst’ experience of sexual harassment was various kinds of touching and groping.
Some were carried out by students at the same school, in various settings.
Around one-quarter of the initial responses were removed due to incompleteness or deliberate false responses.
SBHS students were less likely than AGHS students to experience online harassment.
Where to get help:
Rape Crisis 0800 88 33 00
Victim Support 0800 842 846
HELP Call 24/7 (Auckland): 09 623 1700, (Wellington): 04 801 6655 – push 0 at the menu
