What Does “Prevention” Look Like?

Five Long Beach teens arrested for allegedly groping classmates

Last Tuesday, a female student at Polytechnic High School in Long Beach, CA reported that “boys circled her and grabbed her body after lunchtime”. The young men were arrested and have been charged with misdemeanor sexual battery. The article is unclear whether there have been multiple incidents of assault reported, simply saying that the students allegedly groped “female classmates”.

One of the issues that the Coalition for Gender Equity in Schools struggles with is figuring out the ideal way for schools to enforce rules addressing sexual harassment. And what are “appropriate” “punishments” for violating these rules.

CGES consistently returns to education as the logical, and necessary, first step. Nearly no one in schools is equipped to recognize and properly address sexual harassment or assault when it happens. How then, do we expect people to follow or enforce the rules?

Due to this overwhelming lack of knowledge, in many cases, as in Long Beach, once the harassing behaviors are recognized and responded to, they have already reached the level of sexual assault and the legal system is the proper recourse. The recognition and proper response to sexual harassment before the point of assault is vital so that further escalation is prevented.

After mentioning a sexual harassment sensitivity training that will be implemented, L.A. Now quotes Chris Eftychiou, the Long Beach Unified School District spokesman, as saying,

“Hopefully this is extent of it…But we just want parents to know they and their children should feel comfortable approaching the school if they even suspect anything like this occurring.”

It’s unfortunate that it takes the assault of young women to make a school district aware and vocal about sexual harassment.

But here’s to the vision of more students, in Long Beach and everywhere, reporting sexual harassment and assault when it happens and being taken seriously.