Sexual harassment is one thing we all cannot take away from our higher institutions. Many reported encounters leave one in no doubt about the frequency of its occurrence, although most female victims are not bold enough to expose their abusers. Not all ladies in our higher institutions have the confidence to turn down a lecturer’s sexual advances, admits a student of one of our higher institutions who craved anonymity.
Reasons are, lecturers who are turned down know what to use in punishing the female students. While not insinuating that all higher institution lecturers are skirt chasers, the phenomenon still persists nonetheless as indicated in a recently exposed case in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, where a lecturer, identified as Professor Akindele, demanded sex from one of his female students in a sex for marks scandal that saw the lecturer suspended while the case is still under investigation.
Below are signals lecturers give to lure students into sex, for innocent ladies on or off campus to take note of:
FAILING HIS COURSE REPEATEDLY
One of the most powerful tools randy lecturers use to get their victims to bed is to score them low in all tests and examinations to ensure failure of the course. If the student fails to go to him to seek explanation, she will keep failing again and again. This attempt by the lecturer is a deliberate act to bring the student around to him. This scenario presents good ground for the oppressor to blackmail the victim into sleeping with him in order for her to pass his course. If peradventure she decides to call his bluff and not play ball, she is blacklisted. Any attempt to resolve the matter is always met with the popular phrase: “You know what to do”, which in most cases, leaves the female student no option than to play along to his tricky offer.
WHEN HE CRITICISES YOU EVERY TIME
The moment a lecturer begins to say negative things about you or starts to publicly pick on you for no apparent reason, he wants to take you to bed. Like our elders will say “the best way to kill a dog is to give it a bad name”. This same style is adopted by lecturers to shame their female ‘prey’. He uses abusive words on her during his lectures, asks her questions outside the topic of discussion just to make her uncomfortable. If care is not taken, other lecturers like him may join in the victimization. Should this happen, don’t hesitate to ask your lecturer what your offence is upfront. Trust me, you will likely succeed in calling his bluff or at the very least, get him to back off, even if for a little while, as they hate open confrontations.
WHEN HE ALWAYS CALLS ON YOU TO ANSWER QUESTIONS you might allude this to individual differences, but some lecturers love to see a female student they are hitting on answer questions during their lectures. Some female students might think he is just being friendly, until his agenda is unearthed. For instance, in a class of over a hundred students, only one is persistently being chosen throughout the week to respond to his questions. This sudden, constant interest should raise a red flag.
WHEN HE LOOKS FOR YOU EVERY TIME
When a lecturer asks after a certain female student every now and then to “assist him do some things” like mark scripts, record exam scores or type essay papers in his office, then something is up his sleeves. This kind of lecturer seeks the attention of their crush at any given opportunity. If you find yourself being hounded by a lecturer this way, stay alert for possible unsolicited talk, touch or favours.
BY MAIMUNA BAGUDU
