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| Dorsey High School, December 2017 |
By Sikivu Hutchinson and Ashunda Norris
In 1991, African American law
professor Anita Hill’s testimony against Clarence Thomas transformed her into a
feminist icon in the fight against sexual harassment in the workplace. Building on Hill’s legacy, women in corporate
America, state and federal government, college campuses, and the entertainment
industry have exposed perpetrators, challenged victim-blaming, and mainstreamed
a #MeToo movement that was initiated by Tarana Burke, a black woman. Yet, when we turn
on the TV and see debates about this brave, new heightened consciousness, the
faces and voices of black women and girls are often missing. This is despite the fact that approximately 34-50% of African American girls have
experienced child sexual abuse.
As educators and mentors in Los
Angeles schools, we see how they have become fertile ground for unchecked
sexual harassment and sexual violence. In
an informal survey conducted at three South L.A. high schools by the Women’s Leadership Project (WLP),
a majority of girls of color felt unsafe on campus and had experienced some
form of sexual harassment. Some felt
victimized by a jock culture that encourages boys to openly rate girls’ bodies,
sex partners, and desirability, spilling over into toxic social media attacks. As a result of these experiences, respondents
said that they felt less confident about themselves and did not feel supported
at school. For many girls, going to
school in an environment where sexual harassment is normalized can lead to
stress, anxiety, depression, and self-harm.
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| Dorsey HS, December 2017 |
Sexual harassment in schools often
takes the form of catcalling, touching, ogling and being called out of one’s
name. Terms like “bitch”, “ho”, “ratchet”,
“thot” (that *h* over there) are frequently used to demean African American
girls in ways that echo their specific history of institutionalized rape and
dehumanization in the U.S. under slavery.
As a form of sexual harassment, use of these terms reinforce a violent
culture and climate that is normalized by a “boys will be boys” mentality. This
mentality is often cosigned by teachers and administrators. As a result, girls find that simply walking
around campus becomes a minefield fueled by widespread ignorance about behaviors
that qualify as harassment.
Shania Malone, a member of the WLP,
and a senior at Dorsey High School who is openly bisexual, says that she has
been harassed by a female student. Malone also shared that she attempts to take
preventive measures to curb sexual comments. "I usually wear my backpack
really low to cover my butt. I also wear clothes to cover up my shape and
curves." Serenity Smith, another senior at
Dorsey, related that she has been made to feel uncomfortable and unsafe at
school. Young men frequently joke about her body. "They think they can say
stuff like: 'I'll blow your back out, your ass is looking mighty fine today,
and your pussy is showing today' and not get into trouble because their
behavior is justified."
The sexualization of black girls
at very young ages contributes to an atmosphere where sexual violence against them
is viewed as inconsequential. If black
girls are stereotyped as “unrapeable”, then everyday sexual harassment is
something that “they bring onto themselves”.
A recent Georgetown University study on cultural perceptions about black girls
concluded that they are widely viewed as more mature, less innocent, and less in
need of protection than white girls. Racist, sexist perceptions such as these
contribute to higher rates of suspension, expulsion, and incarceration among
black girls. According to the African American Policy Forum,
black girls are routinely overpoliced in public school environments. On a
national level, black girls are suspended nearly six times more than white girls, and are more
harshly disciplined for lesser or similar offenses than white girls. Further,
the Human Rights for Girls advocacy organization has concluded that exposure
to “sexual abuse is one of the primary predictors of girls’ entry into the
juvenile justice system.” These factors, coupled with
a culture that condones sexual violence against them, make many black girls
feel that they have nowhere to turn when they are victimized.
Dorsey senior and WLP member Tayah
Hubbard stressed that many black girls feel like they won’t be believed if they
tell someone they’ve been sexually harassed or abused. For Hubbard, “black girls are told ‘oh you’re
strong and you can get through it.” Hubbard sees a connection between the
dearth of social services, after school programs, and counselors in predominantly
black and Latino schools and the high numbers of students who are pipelined into
prisons instead of college.
Hubbard and her peers in the WLP
recently led sexual harassment prevention workshops with classmates of all
genders. But although new sexual
harassment policies are being touted on Capitol Hill and in the State
Legislature, sexual harassment and sexual violence prevention education that speaks
to the specific circumstances of girls of color is not part of the curriculum
in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The #MeToo movement has disrupted the national
status quo of silence and invisibility around sexual harassment, yet, when it
comes to validating the experiences of girls in communities of color, the
silence is still deafening.
Sikivu Hutchinson
is the founder of the Women’s Leadership Project, a feminist high school
mentoring program for girls of color
Ashunda Norris is a
filmmaker, poet, community builder and teacher whose most recent work as a
filmmaker has screened internationally, including Kampala, Uganda and Nairobi,
Kenya. Her writing has appeared in The
Rush Magazine, L.A. School Report
and DC Metro Theatre Arts.
