Research objective: The paper studied sexual harassment myth and social justice among undergraduate students in southeast Nigerian campuses with a focus on the factors supporting sexual harassment myths and its implication to social justice and sustainable development in the region. Theoretical framework: The study is guided by Structuration/Collective conscience models. Sexual harassment myths as tools of social injustice are perpetuated by the patriarchal structure and false collective conscience among the youth in educational institutions. This has over the years, entrenched sexual violence against women in the everyday interactions among the youth and the general population in the developing world. Methodology: In order to understand the prevalence and developmental consequences of sexual harassment myths, the present study focused on the college students (a group that may be expected to be more progressive in its thinking about sexuality and gender differences/relations than the general population), involving 1716 students (17+) of 44 higher institutions of learning in southeast Nigeria. Survey design with questionnaire instrument was applied to manage the study and data collection procedure. Appropriate statistics were applied to check the relationship of the substantive variables to the study. Results: From the findings, (a) there is a prevalence of acceptance of sexual harassment myths (72.3%/55.6%) among the students(b) sexual harassment myths1&2 explained about 98%/94% variance of consciousness towards social justice against sexual harassment(c) predictors of gendered attitude towards sexual harassment myths acceptance are gender, age, source of sex education and perceived institutional sexual harassment policy (d) the predicting factors to consciousness towards social justice against sexual harassment included age, religious affiliation, type of secondary school attended and source of sex education. Originality: The findings of the study presents a robust understanding of the underlying factors such as sexual harassment myths to the prevalence of sexual harassment in the developing nations such as Nigeria where patriarchal structures have sustained dominant gender inequality paradigm for decades. Theoretical and practical contributions: Sub-Saharan Africa has been missing in the orbit of sexual-gender equality and social justice paradigm evidence in the definitional framework lapses due to dearth of context specific research on the issues however, this study fills such lapses and highlights the inalienable need for commitment to these issues for the actualization of the United Nations sustainable goals-5&16. By implication, the study provokes sustainable policy agenda for Nigeria and other developing nations on gender equality and social justice.
