Actress Recalls Uncomfortable School Experience with Harassing Boys

Croatian actress Sanja Vejnović shared a distressing memory from her elementary school days, detailing how boys in her class would harass their female peers. During early puberty, around age 11, the boys would try to grab the girls' chests as they were beginning to develop, causing discomfort and fear.

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I remembered a story from elementary school when boys in puberty, under the influence of hormones, would jump on girls. They desperately wanted to grab our breasts, and we were just starting to develop. It's really the beginning, it's uncomfortable, you don't want anyone touching you and jumping on you, and they would die laughing, they'd come at you from behind, girls went through that.

Vejnović recounted approaching her homeroom teacher for help, only to receive a dismissive response. The teacher attributed the boys' behavior to hormones, stating, "Boys will be boys. Ah, well, they'll get over it." This reaction, Vejnović explained, normalized the boys' unacceptable actions and sent a message to the girls that they simply had to endure such harassment.

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Boys will be boys. Ah, well, they'll get over it.

Reflecting on the incident from a modern perspective, Vejnović emphasized the inadequacy of the teacher's response. She argued that a proper reaction would have involved confronting the boys directly, warning them of disciplinary action, and making it clear that touching anyone without consent is unacceptable. Such an approach, she believes, would have protected the victims, educated the perpetrators, and established that aggressive behavior is not tolerated.

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That's the response, or you should call those boys who can't control their hormones... And if that teacher hadn't called the whole class and said: 'Listen, if I hear one more time that you did this to the girls, you're going to the principal, you'll get a reprimand, that's not how you behave, you have no right to touch anyone's body part just because you're horny for girls and want to see what it looks like. No, you don't have to if the girl doesn't agree.