Part I. Sexual Harassment Against Black Girls and Young Women in School and the Unfulfilled Promise of Title IX and Zero Tolerance Policies

We be up in the hallway, we be like, we see a good looking girl walk past, we be like “Damn!” Be like, “Man, I'm goin over there.” So we like go over there, I'm gonna hit it and quit it. Hit it and quit it, that's all we be doing for real. I be like, “I dare you to touch her butt.”Like, “Man you go, you go touch her butt.”

African American girls and young women are sexually harassed at school at some of the highest rates and frequently report disproportionately negative effects of such victimization. Traditional school discipline policies, criminal justice system interventions, and Title IX have failed to address this crisis. This section provides an overview of the sexual harassment of Black girls in schools and the inadequacy of Title IX, a law designed to prevent such harassment, in remedying this crisis.