Do PRHS girls feel safe?
By Emma MacMahon
“I don’t know what has happened in society,” said officer Kevin Cramp.
He was talking about sexual harassment. He sees a difference in the way teenage boys and girls treat each other, compared to a few years ago.
and assault can happen to anyone, there seems to be a trend or a significant difference in men/ boys being the ones to do these rather than girls.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has released a study stating that one in every three girls nationwide reported that they seriously considered attempting suicide, and that one out of five girls have reported sexual harassment or sexual assault) against them in the past year.
The question for our community is this: are we part of that trend? Well, seven years ago the PRHS Knight Writer published an article Call It What It Is, and Speak Out. The story, published in May 2016, was written by former PRHS student Julia Bernard, currently an Ed Tech at Elm Street School. It was about rape jokes, and how students let their peers get away that behavior.
CDC Division of Adolescent and School Health Director Kathleen Ethier, Ph.D. says, “Young people are experiencing a level of distress that calls on us to act with urgency and compassion.”
What is sexual harassment or sexual assault? According to Becca Durgin, a licensed clinical social worker at PRHS for five years, sexual harassment is any time boundary lines are crossed within the body or emotional level and safety. Harassment and assault can take form in words or actions.
Ms. Durgin has found conversations involving sexual harassment with students more often than you would think. When asked if there has been an increase in that kind of behavior, she said there have been more reports but that doesn’t mean the actions actually happened more than before.
She said our school community doesn’t do enough to educate students on these topics. As a society and as a school there should be more education on the meaning of words and how they can be taken. The school does have a sexual harassment/ assault specialist who comes in once a week to deal with cases/ also teaches a unit in the health classes.
PRHS has a school resource officer, Kevin Cramp, whose office is near the office of Co-Curricular Director Don Kings. Officer Kramp’s definition (from the legal point of view) of sexual harassment is lude comments in-person or on social media, directed at an individual. It is a comment that can involve how a person looks or acts. He said sexual assault is anything unwanted like physical touch or forced sexual actions.
In Maine, officer Cramp said, sexual assault is considered rape. I asked if he thought there was an increase in these behaviors and crimes but he was unsure. He did say there has been a noticeable increase in inappropriate behaviors and a desensitization because of social media. There may not be an increase in actions, but an increase in reports and advocacy.
Officer Cramp said that when victims talk about what happened to them, , in terms of sexual harassment or unwanted sexual advance, or sexual assault it is common for the victims to be unsure whether we’re talking about normal behavior. More and more, there is a normalization to actions legally regarded as sexual harassment. Office Kramp said social media creates that doubt and basically portrays sexual harassment as normal – and OK. He wonders if teen boys seem to think the comments and actions are funny without thinking about intent.
“Violence against women remains devastatingly pervasive and starts alarmingly young,” according to the World Health Organization. Across their lifetime, one in three women, around 736 million, are subjected to physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner or sexual violence from a non-partner – a number that has remained largely unchanged over the past decade.
This violence starts early: One in four young women (aged 15-24 years) who have been in a relationship will have already experienced violence by an intimate partner by the time they reach their mid-twenties.
“Violence against women is endemic in every country and culture, causing harm to millions of women and their families, and has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, World Health Organization Director-General.”
And it’s happening here at PRHS.
I asked PRHS senior Austin Gagne a tough question. Are boys in this school mature enough to have an informational conversation about sexual harassment outside of a health class?
“In today's world, there are not a lot of mature boys,” Gagne said “Or men. And if you ask about PRHS- I could count on my hands the amount of mature boys that are students.”
Is it a defense to say a sexually suggestive comment was a joke?
“No, because unless the person the joke was pointed toward got the joke and was okay with it, then no,” Austin said. “ And this applies to both genders.”
So does the school do a good job to educate and advocate?
“Nope. Anything more could be done to educate. It isn’t about controlling what people say, but to inform how (some things are) wrong.”
This is an uncomfortable topic. A PRHS senior girl was so straightforward she did not want to be named. She said that the wide majority of woman are aware of sexual harassment and what it is, but not as many men are aware of the categories of harassment.
I asked if the CDC report sounds like things PRHS girls go through. Her response was …. ambiguous. She said two-thirds of the males at PRHS make overly sexualized or “creepy” comments. But she added that some of the reactions from girls (false accusations, silence, laughing) are not helpful.
So … do girls at Poland Regional High School feel safe? Just ask them.
By Emma MacMahon
“I don’t know what has happened in society,” said officer Kevin Cramp.
He was talking about sexual harassment. He sees a difference in the way teenage boys and girls treat each other, compared to a few years ago.
and assault can happen to anyone, there seems to be a trend or a significant difference in men/ boys being the ones to do these rather than girls.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has released a study stating that one in every three girls nationwide reported that they seriously considered attempting suicide, and that one out of five girls have reported sexual harassment or sexual assault) against them in the past year.
The question for our community is this: are we part of that trend? Well, seven years ago the PRHS Knight Writer published an article Call It What It Is, and Speak Out. The story, published in May 2016, was written by former PRHS student Julia Bernard, currently an Ed Tech at Elm Street School. It was about rape jokes, and how students let their peers get away that behavior.
CDC Division of Adolescent and School Health Director Kathleen Ethier, Ph.D. says, “Young people are experiencing a level of distress that calls on us to act with urgency and compassion.”
What is sexual harassment or sexual assault? According to Becca Durgin, a licensed clinical social worker at PRHS for five years, sexual harassment is any time boundary lines are crossed within the body or emotional level and safety. Harassment and assault can take form in words or actions.
Ms. Durgin has found conversations involving sexual harassment with students more often than you would think. When asked if there has been an increase in that kind of behavior, she said there have been more reports but that doesn’t mean the actions actually happened more than before.
She said our school community doesn’t do enough to educate students on these topics. As a society and as a school there should be more education on the meaning of words and how they can be taken. The school does have a sexual harassment/ assault specialist who comes in once a week to deal with cases/ also teaches a unit in the health classes.
PRHS has a school resource officer, Kevin Cramp, whose office is near the office of Co-Curricular Director Don Kings. Officer Kramp’s definition (from the legal point of view) of sexual harassment is lude comments in-person or on social media, directed at an individual. It is a comment that can involve how a person looks or acts. He said sexual assault is anything unwanted like physical touch or forced sexual actions.
In Maine, officer Cramp said, sexual assault is considered rape. I asked if he thought there was an increase in these behaviors and crimes but he was unsure. He did say there has been a noticeable increase in inappropriate behaviors and a desensitization because of social media. There may not be an increase in actions, but an increase in reports and advocacy.
Officer Cramp said that when victims talk about what happened to them, , in terms of sexual harassment or unwanted sexual advance, or sexual assault it is common for the victims to be unsure whether we’re talking about normal behavior. More and more, there is a normalization to actions legally regarded as sexual harassment. Office Kramp said social media creates that doubt and basically portrays sexual harassment as normal – and OK. He wonders if teen boys seem to think the comments and actions are funny without thinking about intent.
“Violence against women remains devastatingly pervasive and starts alarmingly young,” according to the World Health Organization. Across their lifetime, one in three women, around 736 million, are subjected to physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner or sexual violence from a non-partner – a number that has remained largely unchanged over the past decade.
This violence starts early: One in four young women (aged 15-24 years) who have been in a relationship will have already experienced violence by an intimate partner by the time they reach their mid-twenties.
“Violence against women is endemic in every country and culture, causing harm to millions of women and their families, and has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, World Health Organization Director-General.”
And it’s happening here at PRHS.
I asked PRHS senior Austin Gagne a tough question. Are boys in this school mature enough to have an informational conversation about sexual harassment outside of a health class?
“In today's world, there are not a lot of mature boys,” Gagne said “Or men. And if you ask about PRHS- I could count on my hands the amount of mature boys that are students.”
Is it a defense to say a sexually suggestive comment was a joke?
“No, because unless the person the joke was pointed toward got the joke and was okay with it, then no,” Austin said. “ And this applies to both genders.”
So does the school do a good job to educate and advocate?
“Nope. Anything more could be done to educate. It isn’t about controlling what people say, but to inform how (some things are) wrong.”
This is an uncomfortable topic. A PRHS senior girl was so straightforward she did not want to be named. She said that the wide majority of woman are aware of sexual harassment and what it is, but not as many men are aware of the categories of harassment.
I asked if the CDC report sounds like things PRHS girls go through. Her response was …. ambiguous. She said two-thirds of the males at PRHS make overly sexualized or “creepy” comments. But she added that some of the reactions from girls (false accusations, silence, laughing) are not helpful.
So … do girls at Poland Regional High School feel safe? Just ask them.