Preservice teachers’ experiences of sexual harassment at a university campus

Abstract

The chapter examines sexual harassment from the perspectives and experiences of a group of 15 male and female preservice teachers at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The main methods of data generation were focus-group discussions, individual semi-structured interviews, and participant observation. The findings show that traditional gender norms, underpinned by heteronormativity, served to normalise violence and legitimise male power and female subordination at the university. The pressure for men to distance from homosexuality, and any association with the feminine, produces an environment where men, too, are sexually objectified, but this objectification is dismissed and concealed within heteronormative performances. While some respondents expressed an awareness of how power and domination lead to the sexual harassment of female students and certain male students, they seldom challenged it. We conclude that teacher education has a crucial role to play in facilitating deeper understandings and critical reflection amongst students about the social processes that constitute sexual harassment. Preservice teachers are in a unique position to rework these into their own daily lives and thought processes and actively facilitate similar reflections and processes with their future learners.