Sexual harassment is bullying or coerics of a sexual nature,
or the unwelcomeor inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual
favors.In most modern legal contexts, sexualharassment is illegal. As defined
by the US eeoc, "It is unlawfulto harass a person (an applicant or
employee) because of that person’ssex." Harassment can include "sexual
harassment" or unwelcomesexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and
other verbal or physicalharassment of a sexual nature.
Where laws surrounding sexual harassment exist, they
typicallydon’t prohibit simple teasing, offhand comments, or minor isolated
incidents.In the workplace, harassment may be considered illegal when it is so
frequentor severe that it creates a hostile or offensive work environment or
when itresults in an adverse employment decision (such as the victim being
fired ordemoted, or when the victim decides to quit the job).
The harasser can be the victim's supervisor, a supervisor
in another area, a co-worker, or someone who is not an employee of the
employer,such as a client or customer.
It includes a range of behavior from mild transgressions to
sexual abuse or sexual assault Sexual
harassment is a form of illegal employment discrimination in many countries, and is a form of
abuse (sexual and psychology) and
bullying . For many businesses and other organizations, preventing sexual
harassment, and defending employees from sexual harassment charges, have become
key goals of legal decision-making.
Sexual harassment may occur in a variety of circumstances.
Often,but not always, the harasser is in a position of power or authority over the victim (due to
differences in age, or social, political, educational or employment
relationships) or expecting to receive such power or authority in form of
promotion. Forms of harassment relationships include:
· The harasser
can be anyone, such as a client, a co-worker, a parent or legal guardian,
relative, a teacher or professor, a student, a friend, or a stranger.
· The victim
does not have to be the person directly harassed but can be a witness of such
behavior who finds the behavior offensive and is affected by it.
· The place of
harassment occurrence may vary from school, university, workplace and other.
· There may be
other witnesses or attendances, or not.
· The harasser
may be completely unaware that his or her behavior is offensive or constitutes
sexual harassment or may be completely unaware that his or her actions could
be unlawful.
· The
harassment can take place in situations in which the harassed person may not be
aware of what is happening, such as during rituals with kids, or when entering
limbo.
· The
harassment may be one time occurrence but more often it has a type of
repetitiveness
· Adverse
effects on the target are common in the form of stress and social withdrawal,
sleep and eating difficulties, overall health impairment, etc.
· The victim
and harasser-can be any gender.
· The harasser
does not have to be of the opposite sex.
·
Misunderstanding: It can result from a situation where one thinks he/she
is making themselves clear, but is not understood the way they intended. The
misunderstanding can either be reasonable or unreasonable. An example of
unreasonable is when a man holds certain stereotypical view of a woman such
that he did not understand the woman’s explicit message to stop.
