According to a major 2004 study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education, nearly 10 percent of U.S. public school students have been targeted with unwanted sexual attention by school employees. The report says the mistreatment of students ranges from sexual comments to rape. Charol Shakeshaft, the author of the report, states: "sexual abusers in schools use various strategies to trap students. They lie to them, isolate them, make them feel complicit, and manipulate them into sexual contact. Often teachers target vulnerable or marginal students who are grateful for the attention" (2).
In their 2006 report, "Drawing the Line" the American Association of University Women (AAUW) found physical and emotional effects from sexual harassment:
• 68% of female students felt very or somewhat upset by sexual harassment they experienced
• 6% were not at all upset
• 57% of female students who have been sexually harassed reported feeling self-conscious or embarrassed
• 55% of female students who have been sexually harassed reported feeling angry
• 32% female students who have been sexually harassed reported feeling afraid or scared
The AAUW also found that sexual harassment effects academics and achievement:
"Students experience a wide range of effects from sexual harassment that impact their academics including: have trouble sleeping, loss of appetite, decreased participation in class, avoid a study group, think about changing schools, change schools, avoid the library, change major, not gone to a professor/ teaching assistant’s office hours. Students may experience multiple effects or just one. The wide range of experiences lowers the percentage of students who experience any particular effect."(2)
• 16% of female students who have been sexually harassed found it hard to study or pay attention in class
• 9% of female students dropped a course or skipped a class in response to sexual harassment
• 27% of female students stay away from particular buildings or places on campus as a result of sexual harassment
