Adolescents’ responses to gendered harassment and discrimination

Among adolescents, peer gendered harassment is extremely common and negatively affects a large proportion of youth. This chapter describes what is meant by peer gendered harassment in adolescence and what the typical consequences of such harassment are. We then describe youth’s typical responses when they are the target of gendered harassment, and their typical responses when they are the bystander and witness gendered harassment. We also present findings from our own research documenting why adolescents choose to either confront the harassment or not. We end the chapter with recommendations for schools.