Experiences of girl students toward sexual harassment in classroom: A narrative inquiry study
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Department of Health Education
Abstract
The present study entitled “Experiences of girl students toward sexual harassment in
classroom: A narrative inquiry study” has the main objectives to assess the experience
of sexual harassment in the classroom to the female students of Tribhuvan University
and to identify the forms of sexual harassment in the Tribhuvan University of the
female students. I adopted qualitative research on narrative inquiry research design.
All the teachers and students of the Department of Education of Tribhuvan University
are my area of study. Out of the girl students studying in the Faculty of Education,
Tribhuvan University, I collected the information from the selected girl until the
saturation of information. I included four girl students purposively on the basis of
various characteristics. Respondents selected through a purposive random sampling
procedure. In depth interview the tool for information collection in this study. Both
primary and secondary sources of information analyzed in a descriptive and
qualitative way.
According to this research, girl students at Tribhuvan University were being
sexually harassed. Their own classmates and teachers were seen engaging in such
activities. Girl students were exposed to three main forms of sexual harassment,
including verbal sexual harassment, physical sexual harassment and cyber sexual
harassment. The most common was cyber sexual harassment. This type of harassment
was seen to affect the girl students physically as well as mentally. Verbal sexual
harassment includes the use of ambiguous words, attempts to use words outside the
context, used unnecessary relationships, etc. Similarly, physical sexual harassment
includes trying to get stuck in the classroom, trying to talk while touching the body
while doing normal things, holding hands, moving the hair and trying to get stuck
while walking. Under cyber sexual harassment, male students and teachers appear to
have sent ambiguous words to the girl students in the message, making unnecessary
comments on the personal figure, sending unnecessary messages, sending photos and
making unnecessary proposals. The girls student, who are able to express their own
problems clearly, express their views spontaneously as needed, are less likely to be
sexually harassed. The students, who were narrow-minded, couldn't express their
opinions clearly and were scared, were more likely to be sexually harassed. This type
of sexual harassment seems to have a negative effect on the personality development
of the girl students.