title: Sexual harassment of girls in elementary school: a concealed phenomenon within a heterosexual romantic discourse.
abstract: The aim of this study was to enhance the understanding of young girls' experiences of peer sexual harassment in elementary school and of normalizing processes of school-related sexualized violence. Six focus group interviews with girls in Grade 1 through 6 were carried out in an elementary school in the northern part of Sweden. A content analyses showed that young girls experienced verbal, nonverbal, and sexual assault behaviors at school. Sexual harassment as a concealed phenomenon and manifest within a romantic discourse were themes found in the analysis. A conclusion is that schools have to acknowledge behaviors related to sexual harassment as a potential problem even in young ages and develop methods to approach the subject also for this age group.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, Mid Sweden University, Sundsvall, Sweden. katja.gillander-gadin@miun.se
authors.forename: Katja Gillander
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Gådin
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D003380:Courtship / Q000523:psychology; D030881:Disclosure; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D010379:Peer Group; D017406:Sexual Harassment / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D013548:Sweden; D014705:Verbal Behavior