4.6 Gender, physical space and school violence
4.6.1 The hall ways
Fig. 4.1: Hall ways
Hall ways have been identified as one of the prominent spaces in schools where gender violence is manifested (Bhana, 2012; Dunne, 2007). The school that was the site of this study has three blocks and each block has three corridors. I observed that boys were dominant in the spaces along the corridors during breaks or when they were not in class. Most boys claimed these spaces as their space and girls were not allowed free movement along these
72 corridors. Boys usually stood on both sides of the corridors to indicate their ownership and authority in the space along the hall way while girls did not seem to belong. However, some girls seem to have earned their space along the corridors by engaging in heterosexual relationships. In some instances, one or two girls could be seen with boys, holding each other intimately. In most cases girls who passed the corridors were physically, verbally or sexually abused by the boys. Their freedom of movement at school was therefore restricted.
Antoinette: These boys Miss, they are very abusive. Like when you walk into the corridors, they are always standing there.
Interviewer: What do they do when you walk into the corridors?
Antoinette: No Miss, they always have bad comments when you pass through the corridors.
Interviewer: Can you give me some examples of the bad comments made by these boys?
Nicoline: They say you’re ugly, you’re a bitch, your pussy, like actually bad names and stuff.
Interviewer: Do you think its violence when they make all these bad comments?
Interviewees: (The whole group) It is violence Miss.
Interviewer: Why do you think its violence?
Pearl: Yes Miss, because it makes you feel uncomfortable and feel bad about yourself.
This excerpt shows how school boys use their power to dominate the physical spaces in school. It also illustrates the role of power relations in relation to gender and space (Low, 2006). Pearl’s response on why name calling is violence is in line with Bhana’s (2013) assertion that schools have become sites where children develop distorted perceptions of their identity due to the prevalence of violence. Pearl’s self-esteem and pride as a girl is reduced when boys call her bad names.
Boys’ domination of the corridors suggests that they had created an invisible spatial boundary which restricted girls’ freedom of movement. Girls who attempted to challenge these spatial boundaries were faced with violence. Sexual harassment was a prominent form of gender violence encountered by girls along the school corridors. Girls reported many sexual comments made by these boys as well as being touched in inappropriate places when they had to walk through the corridors. Such cases are not reported because, according to the learners, the girls would be blamed for walking through the corridors knowing that it is a male dominated space. This serves as a justification for the role played by the school
73 authorities in endorsing hegemonic forms of masculinity that justify violence (Anderson, 2009).
Most discourses around sexual harassment of young girls and women by men have blamed the woman, who is the victim (Leach & Mitchell, 2006). Such discourses are based on cultural values that portray women as the custodian of morality (Ringrose & Renold, 2012).
Interviewer: Have the boys ever touched your titi [breast] in the corridors?
Nicole: I don’t go there because I know what they do when they are there… a group of boys in grade 11. They do it to many girls. But if they try me I’ll give it to them.
Anele: But Miss, the girls seem to like it when they [boys] touch them.
Interviewer: Mandla, you also mentioned girls doing something, only for a boy to react. Can you explain that please?
Mandla: Yes they do like emm… (Interrupted)
Nombuso: Sorry to cut you short, my opinion is that harassment is something that you don’t have control over. Like you are the victim. They are saying girls do seduce them but they have control over their emotions and they don’t have to act if they don’t want. So even if I show you my thigh you don’t have to touch me. So you have power over yourself and I don’t have power over you.
Mandla: Ok Nombuso, can I ask you a question? What’s the purpose of you showing me your thigh?
Nombuso: You choose to look at my thigh, not me showing you my thigh.
Thembiso: But sometimes they, girls they turn to allow it happen.
Peter: They seem to like it even though they pretend they don’t like it.
Scelo: They are like stop it, I like it, stop it, I like it!
Pinky: They don’t say I like but they are not angry.
Most of the boys and some of the girls who participated in the study blamed the girls who were sexually harassed in the corridors, behind the girls’ toilets and in other school spaces that were male dominated. According to participants like Nicole and Mandla, girls go through the corridors and to other spaces dominated by boys because they like to be touched by them;
thus, they should not complain when it happens. Girls like Nombuso expressed disgust at the
74 way the female body is sexualised and abused by school boys. In line with Connell’s (1995) portrayal of femininity as fearfulness, girls like Nicole chose to stay away from the corridors in order to remain safe. Meanwhile the boys continued to use violence to maintain dominance.
However, not all the girls yielded to such restrictions and violence from the boys, especially in determining who owns particular school spaces. There were some girls who challenged the invisible codes of restriction imposed by the boys. For example, despite the harassment faced by some girls in the corridors, they could walk along these corridors without fear of being attacked.
While there is a rich literature related to teachers who use their power to sexually abuse learners (Bhana, 2012; Francis & Mills, 2012; Parkes & Heslop, 2011; Centre for Applied Legal Studies, 2014), in this study no cases were cited of sexual harassment perpetrated by teachers against learners.