Twenty-eight per cent of undergraduates in Hong Kong claim to have been sexually harassed by fellow students, with 11 per cent of respondents also accusing lecturers, a survey revealed yesterday.
The Chinese University study of 2,485 full-time students at Hong Kong's eight universities found only two per cent of those questioned would be willing to report such an incident to university authorities.
It found 35 per cent of female and 19 per cent of male respondents had been subjected to sexual harassment ranging from dirty jokes, derogatory sexual comments and molestation, to sexual coercion.
Eleven per cent alleged they had been pestered by teachers.
Compared with the findings of a similar survey 10 years ago, the proportion reporting harassment had dropped by four percentage points. But two per cent said they had been forced to kiss or even provide sex to their lecturers or tutors - up from 0.8 per cent in the previous survey.
Only two per cent of victims complained to their university, but this increased to five per cent when the harassment came from teachers. Women were more reluctant to talk to the authorities, with only 0.7 per cent lodging claims of harassment, compared with 4.8 per cent of men.
About a fifth of victims suffered depression and low self-esteem as a result of their experiences, while one in 10 skipped class or changed courses if the offender was their lecturer.
