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Dangerous liaisons

Sexual harassment is flourishing in schools across the country and many preteens and teens are suffering in silence

By
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Originally published in Today's Parent June 2007

When 13-year-old Lee Bentley* moved to a small Saskatchewan town at the beginning of the last school year, her mom had every reason to believe she would easily fit in to her new environment. Lee had always been a social child with lots of friends. But over the summer, the tall, blond-haired teen had become quite curvaceous — a fact that didn’t go unnoticed by the pubescent boys at her school. “I want to touch your boobs,” they called to her, or “Nice nipples.”

Lee, who had attended a Mennonite school in Manitoba for the previous few years, became acutely self-conscious. “This body happened in six months,” says her mom, Maria. “She’s not comfortable with it yet.” Although Lee struggled not to let it bother her, her embarrassment showed. “I tried to laugh,” she told her mom. “But then everybody was laughing at me, not with me.” What’s more, when the boys began to pay attention, the girls got mean. They began to call her “stupid,” and “albino” because she was so fair. “She didn’t have a single friend to turn to,” says Maria.

Lee developed stress-related tummy aches and a host of other complaints that prevented her from going to school. Although the school was supportive, neither the teachers nor the principal seemed to be able to get the problem in check. And finally, with her child’s self-esteem “at zero,” Maria allowed Lee to do some studies at home, and three mornings each week, she goes to school where she’s taught in a separate room.

*Name changed by request.

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