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The chapter examines sexual harassment from the perspectives and experiences of a group of 15 male and female preservice teachers at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The main methods of data generation were focus-group discussions, individual semi-structured interviews, and participant observation. The findings show that traditional gender norms, underpinned by heteronormativity, served to normalise violence and legitimise male power and female subordination at the university. The pressure for men to distance from homosexuality, and any association with the feminine, produces an environment where men, too, are sexually objectified, but this objectification is dismissed and concealed within heteronormative performances. While some respondents expressed an awareness of how power and domination lead to the sexual harassment of female students and certain male students, they seldom challenged it. We conclude that teacher education has a crucial role to play in facilitating deeper understandings and critical reflection amongst students about the social processes that constitute sexual harassment. Preservice teachers are in a unique position to rework these into their own daily lives and thought processes and actively facilitate similar reflections and processes with their future learners.

This chapter examines how alcohol, fear, and female dress are constructed as risk factors in female university students’ accounts of violence on campus. A racially diverse group of 10 female students who resided at the on-campus residence at the University of KwaZulu-Natal participated in the qualitative study on which this chapter draws. The aim of the chapter is to investigate female students’ vulnerability to gender violence and how this is interlinked with substance use, fear and the discursive production of female dress. Participants argued that female students’ “deviation” from traditional gendered scripts increased their vulnerability. They saw women’s acquiescence within hetero-patriarchal settings not as an indication that their femininity was passively constructed, but that it was a protective strategy enabling them to mediate and reduce the risk of violence. Our participants also demonstrated agency through actively proposing ways of raising consciousness about gender violence in the student body, and suggesting roles that men could play in the prevention of violence. The chapter concludes with recommendations for working with female students’ agentic capacities to challenge violence.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious global issue that mainly affects women. Power and control are among the driving forces behind IPV, and are endorsed within conservative gender regimes t...

Sexual assault is a serious and urgent concern at university campuses. The fear of sexual assault is widespread and expressed almost exclusively by women. This briefing explores female students’ fears about sexual violence and the spaces within which they feel vulnerable while at university, with a view to planning effective interventions to address their fears. This was done by working with them towards understanding the nature and extent of sexual violence, how to deal with it when it occurs and, most importantly, how to prevent it. The analysis draws on the responses of 133 female students at a university in KwaZulu-Natal, who participated in an online survey titled ‘Safer learning environments’, which comprised of closed- and open-ended questions. The findings reveal that the fear of sexual assault is widespread, especially amongst women living in university residences. The people most feared are outsiders and male students. Given the powerful ways in which female students’ activities on campu...