Sexual Harassment

On the 30th of March and 5th of April, our volunteers have been enthusiastic to deliver a new workshop series on the topic: ”Rights and responsibilities online”.  Workshops took place in Mihai Eminescu high school with 9B and 10E classes. For this specific topic, we choose to speak about sexual harassment online. According to our observations, it is a current topic. Besides, it’s very sensitive and it’s not discussed so much in schools.

Our goal was to make it an easy topic to discuss, but more importantly, to solve. To get results in this direction:

Firstly

As usual, we started with an Icebreaker. Lisa, our volunteer, played a “hangman” game with the students. Students had to raise their hands and say one letter each to guess the theme of the workshop. Fortunately, they were intuitive enough to guess quickly.

Secondly

We divided students into groups. After, Doina, our volunteer gave them a study case of 13 years old Sara. Clearly, how Sara was tricked by a boy and her nude photos ended up on two Instagram pages. Further, we gave high schoolers a list of solutions for the victim and another list of solutions for the witness. More exactly, if they were a victim, what solutions would be useful for them, and if they were a witness, what solutions would they choose.

It should be noted, boys from both classes seem more relaxed, and girls are tenser during discussions. 

At the end of the activity, we made them aware of barriers young people face in reporting and inspired them to speak up and find solutions if they are facing that kind of situation.

Finally

Theo, our volunteer, presented examples of actions of sexual harassment. Further, he asked students to vote if it is legal or not in Romania. In particular, they found out in groups if some situations that may happen in their life are protected by law or not in Romania.

Discussions were tense, and the atmosphere was charged. But it seems they like to debate and work in groups. Besides, we think that debates are necessary, so they can express this way. Indeed, mostly everyone hides and avoids sharing information related to this topic.

After the workshop, we were pleasantly impressed to read feedback and see that they spent quality time with us. Absolutely, reading their feedback is one of our favorite moments. 

Location: Mihai Eminescu high school, Constanta, Romania
Dates: 30th of March and 05th of April 2022