At 12 I was insecure about my body... My body had become more womanly; I got boobs and a waist and at a time where I was beginning to understand my new womanly body (these) three boys degraded me by (joking) about having a threesome with me...They said things like "we're going to sandwich you," "you'd probably like us to," and "I get the face you can have her bottom parts." I was innocent! I had never kissed a guy and they're talking about having sex with me. I couldn't concentrate on the teacher... it made me feel horrible and uneasy about my body and they laughed the whole time.-AnonymousMany young girls today experience this kind of discrimination and degradation throughout their years in the public education system. Not only are girls disrespected in the school system but they are neglected by not having a more reality-based sex education program. Another inequality in the school system between boys and girls is the lack of standardized testing and general education geared towards females. Though I do not argue that inequalities between girls and boys in the public school system has not improved over time, gender disparity still exists and needs to be eliminated by implementing major changes in public education.Gender discrimination is not as bad as it used to be, but it still exists in the harmful form of sexual harassment. According to the American Association of University Women, "Thirty-one percent of girls experienced harassment 'often,' compared to only 18 percent of boys (1)" . Though boys still experience sexual harassment, girls experience it at a significantly higher rate and are more affected by it. Some argue that the actual rate of sexual harassment is lower than the rate reported using the to broadened definition given by women's groups of what is considered sexual harassment. Lynn Cheney argues that using the broader definition makes certain instances appear to be sexual harassment when really they are just trivial matters (2).Clearly this can not be true due to the fact that one out of four girls stay home from school or cuts class due to sexual harassment(3). If these occurrences of sexual harassment were merely just "trivial" then one out of four, or twenty-five percent, would not be staying home for "trivial matters". If these girls are missing school because of harassment and others can not concentrate because of it then how are they going to be getting an equal education?AAUW states,"A greater percentage of female students described feeling less confident, more self-conscious, shamed, and embarrassed. Young women can be so affected by harassment that their grades drop. (AAUW, 1993, p. 15)."These statistics clearly indicate a disparity between boys and girls in the school system. Girls are often made to feel uncomfortable about their bodies by their peers who are merely slapped on the wrist for their harassment. Because the authorities do not properly handle these types of situations many girls' education is sacrificed....
