Street Sexual Harassment: Experiences and Attitudes among Young Spanish People

Victoria A. Ferrer-Perez, Carmen Delgado-Alvarez, Andrés Sánchez-Prada, Esperanza Bosch-Fiol and Virginia Ferreiro-Basurto
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Victoria A. Ferrer-Perez: Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de las Islas Baleares, Ctra. Valldemossa, km. 7′5, 07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain
Carmen Delgado-Alvarez: Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, C/Compañía, 1-5, 37002 Salamanca, Spain
Andrés Sánchez-Prada: Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, C/Compañía, 1-5, 37002 Salamanca, Spain
Esperanza Bosch-Fiol: Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de las Islas Baleares, Ctra. Valldemossa, km. 7′5, 07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain
Virginia Ferreiro-Basurto: Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de las Islas Baleares, Ctra. Valldemossa, km. 7′5, 07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 19, 1-19

Abstract: Violence against women (VAW) is gender-based violence directed at women and girls on account of being female that can take on multiple forms and manifest in different contexts. Among the many possible forms of VAW, this article focuses on “piropos”, a type of stranger harassment situation. Specifically, the objectives of this study were two-fold: to analyze the usefulness of a tool to evaluate social attitudes towards this form of VAW and to analyze the influence of sociodemographic variables and prior victimization (whether as a witness or victim) on attitudes towards this type of violence among Spanish youth. An opportunity sample of 538 young Spanish people took part in this study. They filled out a sociodemographic data sheet, a victimization questionnaire designed ad hoc, and a questionnaire on attitudes towards “piropos”. The results obtained indicate that the questionnaire was adequate for use as a tool to evaluate social attitudes towards this type of VAW and suggest its applicability for future studies on attitudes towards “piropos” as a type of stranger harassment situation in a Spanish context. Moreover, the results on victimization not only corroborate the magnitude of street sexual harassment in Spain and a direct effect of gender on the perception of the violence experienced, they also reinforce the need to further investigate new aspects. Regarding attitudes towards “piropos”, the results obtained indicate that, in general, participants demonstrated negative attitudes or rejection, and these feelings were particularly strong among women.

Keywords: street sexual harassment; harassment experiences; “piropos”; attitudes towards harassment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:19:p:10375-:d:648612

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