Race, Class, and Emerging Female Sexuality: Teacher Perceptions and Sexual Harassment in Schools

This paper presents the findings from a study we conducted with eleven middle and high school teachers from southeastern Georgia from both rural and urban districts. In-depth interviews were conducted to determine how their experiences and perceptions impact their understanding of the emerging sexuality of students in their classrooms and the degree to which sexual harassment is present. Several findings emerged including adverse sexual labels continue to serve as a means of sexual harassment that many teachers don't recognize, and that perceptions of sexuality and "acceptable behavior" remain deeply embedded in race and class issues, and these racial and class stereotypes often allow sexual harassment to prevail in the lives of many adolescent girls.