Abstract
M.A.
South African society is experiencing high levels of violence against women. Various research studies have been conducted in South Africa and at international universities: they all indicate the presence of violence on campus.
The researcher used a quantitative approach to gather information on students‟ perceptions of sexual violence and focused on gender differences and similarities.
Both undergraduate and postgraduate students living in residence were invited to participate in the study. Significant findings of the study are that sexual harassment was rampant on this campus. In addition, there are gender differences in the perception of sexual harassment. Both genders agreed that direct, physical violence and electronic harassment both constitute sexual harassment. However, men and women did not agree that non-violent behaviour constitutes sexual harassment. It is noteworthy that some men reported having experienced non-violent forms of sexual harassment. The study established that rape was not common on this campus. Moreover, different forms of non-violent sexual harassment were widespread and that more women than men experienced various forms of sexual harassment on campus.
Both male and females perpetrate sexual harassment. However, perpetrators were predominantly male with a significant number being students, academic and non-academic staff members. The majority of students were not aware of the procedure to follow if sexually harassed on campus and were unaware of the universitiy's sexual harassment policy. Males and females preferred talking to a friend about their sexual harassment and seldom used university resources.
Sexual harassment occurred all over campus and the researcher strongly recommend that university management commit themselves to dealing with sexual harassment by clearly stating that sexual harassment is not tolerated on campus and introducing measures to address this problem.