Representations of Students at the University of Coimbra Regarding Sexual Harassment in the Context of Hazing

Sexual harassment in higher education institutions has been marked by circumstances such as organisational structures with a strong hierarchical component, the normalisation of gender-based violence, and a culture of silencing. Through the analysis of focus groups carried out with students at the University of Coimbra (UC) with the aim of studying representations related to sexual harassment, I found a profound concern with hazing. At UC, hazing has a strong presence and is based on secularised patriarchal practices, on the principle of hierarchical relationships established between peers, and which promote a culture of sexual objectification of women. Students participating in the discussions demonstrated how they are inevitably coerced, in the form of full integration within the university, into taking part in rituals that expose them to the vulnerability of being victims of sexual and moral harassment. I combine the recognition, experiences, and understandings of students in relation to sexual harassment with a component of sensitisation of the academic community to these dangers, particularly inside classrooms and research centres, connoted with the left expectrum, which provokes resistance by the right wing to reflect how this problem is viewed as a political issue in some sense. I also analyse the role of media with the exposure of controversial cases of rape, harassment, and sexism. It is also important to reflect on the social opposition movements, especially those created by students within academia, which denounce patriarchy, colonialism, and the rise of neoliberal logics that permanently accentuate the prevalence of sexist logics. At the same time, in this work I try to present solutions proposed by students to deal with sexual harassment in this context, most of them about social movements raised by them in order to act together to face the structure of oppression.