What Is Sexual Harassment

What Is Sexual Harassment

Any of the following unwanted behavior may constitute sexual harassment:

 leering

 wolf whistles

 discussion of one's partner's sexual inadequacies

 sexual innuendo

 comments about women's bodies

 Ð''accidentally' brushing sexual parts of the body

 lewd & threatening letters

 tales of sexual exploitation

 graphic descriptions of pornography

 pressure for dates

 sexually explicit gestures

 unwelcome touching and hugging

 sexual sneak attacks, (e.g., grabbing breasts or buttocks )

 sabotaging women's work

 sexist and insulting graffiti

 demanding, "Hey, baby, give me a smile"

 inappropriate invitations (e.g., hot tub)

 sexist jokes and cartoons

 hostile put-downs of women

 exaggerated, mocking Ð''courtesy'

 public humiliation

 obscene phone calls

 displaying pornography in the workplace

 insisting that workers wear revealing clothes

 inappropriate gifts (ex. lingerie)

 hooting, sucking, lip-smacking, & animal noises

 pressing or rubbing up against the victim

 sexual assault

 soliciting sexual services

 stalking

 leaning over , invading a person's space

 indecent exposure

Compiled by Martha Langelan in Back Off! How To Confront And Stop Sexual Harassment and Harassers Copyright 2001-2005 Feminist Majority Foundation

Sexual Harassment, a form of unlawful sex discrimination. Under federal law in the United States, sexual harassment is unwanted behavior of a sexual nature that occurs in the workplace or in an educational setting under certain conditions. In most places this sort of behavior is illegal if it causes an environment that is hostile or intimidating, if it interferes with a person's work or school performance, or if acceptance of the harasser's behavior is made a condition of employment or academic achievement.

Attitudes differ about what should be considered sexual harassment. Sexual harassment could include but is not limited to sexual gestures or comments that have a sexual nature, touching and unwanted body contact. Harassment occurs when these behaviors are repeated. If you can not advance in your job without sleeping with the boss that is sexual harassment. This sort of thing also happens among co-workers, like jokes about sex during coffee breaks, or uncomfortable closeness. Today harassment of this nature is not limited to women; men can also be victims of sexual harassment. Recent studies suggest that women are the general target of this form of harassment.

The United States Congress viewed sexual harassment as discrimination when the Civil Rights act of 1964 was passed. Since that time we've seen many high profile cases of this nature. In this day and age the public is aware of growing numbers of sexual harassment cases, but there is still a sort of tug-of-war going on about what should be considered sexual harassment ("Sexual Harassment," MicrosoftÐ'® EncartaÐ'® Online Encyclopedia2003)

There have been quite a few studies done to investigate how frequently sexual harassment occurs. Some studies suggest the anywhere from 30 to 70 percent of women have experienced some sort of sexual harassment at some point in their lives. The studies vary inpart because our sexual views differ so vastly. Meaning what one person thinks is acceptable another may view as a blunt form of sexual harassment. In reading an article about sexual harassment in the work place I discovered that there have many complaints sent to government agencies. From 1990 to 1996 the number of complaints of sexual harassment in the workplace more then doubled from about 6000 to about 15,000. Men had also filed claims the male percentage of victims jumped from 8 percent to 10 percent in 1996. This would seem to be an indication that the situation is getting worse.

Research also indicates that harassment is wide spread among children and teenagers. One survey of about 1500 students in the 80's found that about 85 percent of girls and 76 percent of boys had experienced some form of sexual harassment. Now that is ridiculous! We are not teaching our children to respect the rights of others; I believe that this is due to our poor moral state at this time.

I have a four year old daughter (in Pre-school) She came to me one day and said that another pre-schooler had tried to pull her pants down. I was really upset because she was crying and embarrassed about other children seeing her under clothes. I went to the school to speak with her teacher who I feel thought it was no big deal. She (the teacher) said it was just Childs play, I disagree! Teaching small children not to violate the rights

of others is where reform begins; if this deed went unnoticed maybe my daughter would think that it's okay for people to violate her that way. That male child would think that it was okay to pull down a girl or later a women's clothing. Needless to say I made a issue of it and I taught my female child that she is to be treated with respect and that her body is private and no one has the right to touch, pull or make her feel uncomfortable in that way.