Young people and sexual harassment in night-Time leisure spaces: Double female vulnerability

Abstract

This article analyses the sexual harassment that girls and young women are exposed to in the spaces of nightlife. The objective is focused on learning the possible risks, as well as the experiences and perceptions concerning gender violence, and specifically sexual harassment, which take place in nightlife spaces, while also analysing strategies and possibilities for change. The methodology used is qualitative, with 24 in-depth interviews with people between the ages of 16 and 22. The results show a discourse of illusory equality in nightlife spaces: boys/young men can have an explicit sexuality, whereas girls/women must respect some unwritten rules on the use of public space, times and places. Boys/men normalize harassment as one more aspect of nightlife. Differentiated group strategies are developed, both of intimidation and defence. Girls/women identify dangers or "black spots". We conclude that girls/women are afraid of being sexually assaulted, and that males use sexual harassment as an exercise of power, perpetuating a gender-differentiated social mandate in spaces of nightlife.