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Are you a parent? Are you a student? Do you work in a school? If so, the following information will help you understand your rights or your student’s rights under Title IX to be free from bullying and harassment.
A high school student becomes pregnant. During biology class, other students — both boys and girls — routinely call her a “whore” and a “slut,” tell her that she “slept around” and is going to be a bad mom. This isn’t just “boys being boys,” “mean girls,” or normal teenage behavior. We can’t merely label it “bullying” and move on. The student is experiencing sexual harassment, which is prohibited in nearly all schools by a federal law called Title IX.
Title IX isn’t just a law about sports!
It protects all students, including pregnant and parenting students, from discrimination on the basis of sex in schools that receive federal funding. Bullying and harassment because of sex is just one type of sex discrimination. School districts may violate Title IX when sex-based harassment by classmates, peers, teachers, or other adults at school is so serious that it creates a hostile environment for the target and such harassment is encouraged, tolerated, not adequately addressed, or ignored by school employees. Harassment creates a hostile environment when it is sufficiently severe, pervasive, or persistent that it interferes with or limits a student’s ability to participate in or benefit from school, including all activities and services.
Harassment can take many forms. It can be verbal acts, like name-calling; images and graphics; written statements; or other actions that may be physically threatening, harmful, or humiliating. Harassment can include the use of cell phones or the internet (sometimes called “cyberbullying”). The harassing student and the target do not have to be of the opposite sex.
Harassment based on sex does not have to be sexual in nature, but can be because of a student’s failure to conform to gender stereotypes — for example, harassment of a female student because she does not act the way that her peers think girls should act. The following are some examples of gender-based or sex-based harassment that is prohibited by Title IX:
- A girl becomes pregnant, and fellow students have been spreading rumors about her sexual behavior, repeatedly asking her questions about the “baby daddy,” inquiring how many times she’s had sex and what position she and her partner were in when she got pregnant, etc.
- A female student “hooked up” with a boy at her school, and now a group of girls are repeatedly texting her and tweeting about her at school, calling her a “slut” and a “whore.”
- A male student has mostly female friends, sings Lady Gaga songs in the glee club and is on the dance team. Fellow students call him a “fairy,” “gay boy,” or “queer,” every time he walks down the hallway, and repeatedly tell him he doesn’t belong there.
- A student who’s pregnant has been repeatedly sexually propositioned by a group of boys in her class. They say things like, “we know you put out,” and “why would a girl like you say no?”
A school must do something about harassment. If harassment is reported, or if it is widespread or well-known to students and staff, the school has to respond. Schools are required to investigate the allegations of harassment in a prompt, thorough, and fair way. If a school determines that sexual harassment has occurred, it must take effective steps to end the harassment and prevent it from happening again.
The existence of a school- or district-wide anti-bullying or sexual harassment policy does not mean that the school’s work is done! Even if it has policies in place that prohibit bullying and harassment, a school is responsible under Title IX for investigating, ending, and preventing harassment. There are many ways that a school can respond to harassment. For example, it can separate the harasser and target, provide counseling (but not mediation) for the students involved, and provide training to the school community as a whole so that all students, families, and school staff can recognize harassment and know what steps to take if it occurs.
Schools’ responsibility for complying with Title IX can be enforced by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) — you can file a complaint with OCR online — or through a lawsuit in federal court. (OCR also enforces other federal civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability, and age.)
In addition, almost every state has its own laws about bullying and harassment, which may add other protections and requirements to those of Title IX. For example, although some bullying and harassment directed at lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students is covered under Title IX if it is based on a student’s failure to conform to sex stereotypes, a handful of states have laws that specifically protect LGBT students from harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Check out the Department of Education’s recent report on state bullying laws and policies, or ask an attorney to find out if your state provides any additional protections.
For more information, check out the National Women’s Law Center’s FAQs on bullying and harassment and bullying and harassment of pregnant and parenting students. If you still have questions or need help, please contact us at info@nwlc.org or (202) 588-5180.
