ABSTRACT
Many institutions of tertiary education in numerous countries have faced the necessity of establishing a policy prohibiting sexual harassment. The objective of these policies is to protect the staff and students from unwanted sexual attentions. In this chapter, author Gillian Finchilescu considers the arguments opposing the sexual harassment policy voiced by some students at the University of Cape Town, focusing in particular on the arguments made by a segment of the African students that the policy is inherently racist and does not acknowledge cultural differences. The impetus for writing this chapter came from a desire to understand certain discourses that the author has met in his work with the university's Sexual Harassment Prevention and Support Services. The author has also presented the reasons for some African students' hostility to the university's policy on sexual harassment. A reconstruction of the meaning of masculinity and femininity, and of gender relations in general, is necessary before the tolerance towards sexual harassment can cease.
