the paper shall focus on sexual harassment through its definition as a way of recognizing its occurrence, to determine the preventive measures, and how to deal with it before and after it occurs.
Recognizing, Preventing, and Dealing With Sexual Harassment
The office of civil rights and the equal employment opportunity commission states defines sexual harassment as unwelcome sexual advances, verbal or physical sexual nature, and requests for sexual favors in situations such as a condition for employment and promotion (HerscH, 2015). Also, when it is a condition for change in grades at school and when such advances aim to interfere with the persons academic or work life. When sexual harassment occurs, most people do not take it seriously maybe until they have been physically disturbed by the perpetrator, but still, many victims fail to report the occurrences or do not know where to present their case. Sexual harassment could lead to fear, depression, and mood disorders among other problems in a victim’s life. Thus, the paper shall focus on recognizing, preventing, and strategies for dealing with sexual harassment.
Sexual harassment is common both at school and workplaces. Recognizing sexual harassment has occurred requires a person to understand the definition which stipulates which conducts should be considered as part of this crime. Sexual harassment is a gender-neutral offense; however, more women have reported more cases than men being sexually harassed by men (HerscH, 2015). Additionally, people of the same gender could sexually harass each other is the harassment concerns sex and not their sexual orientation. Sexual harassment could be exhibited in various ways such as sending nude images, touching or grabbing body parts, sending sexual notes, making sexual gestures, spreading sexual rumors, making verbal comments, pulling own or someone else’s clothes off, rape, and sexual assault among other sexually unsolicited activities. Sexual harassment should not be confused with flirting which is mutual in most cases since sexual harassment is random and unwelcome. Sexual harassment makes a person feel uncomfortable, threatened, humiliated, angry, and trapped among other negative feelings. These cases could be perpetrated by fellow students or teachers at schools for various reasons as shown above. Thus, in the presence of such occurrence, a person should consider the situation a sexual harassment occurrence and report to the relevant authorities for legal action.
Prevention of sexual harassment is an effort by both the potential victims and the institution. However, it starts with an enabling environment for instance where the school has a strict policy about sexual harassment to encourage the learners and other faculty members to report cases for appropriate action (Stein, 1995). The policy should define acts that should be perceived as sexual harassment and indicate what actions victims should take. Also, training employees at work or students at the school could improve the awareness on the matter and encourage potential victims to be cautious when dealing with people to distinguish between sexual harassment and flattery. This situation will allow the potential victims to turn down unwanted sexual gesture or requests. Also, monitoring the school or the workplace for signs of sexual harassment could help to identify and eliminate such occurrences before they affect students or employees. Moreover, from a Christian perspective, the dress code of a person could send wrong signals to a colleague at work or friend at school thus dressing with modesty should be considered especially for women as shown in the book of First Timothy 2:9. Also based on first Corinthians 14:19 and First Thessalonians 4:3-5 the Bible states that people should be firm when rebuking unwelcomed conducts and show the perpetrator that the argument is from a Christian moral perspective. The difference between the secular and Christian way of preventing sexual harassment is that the latter is polite and do not threaten of any consequence. It also elicits feelings of responsibility to the perpetrator to review their actions and moral status. The secular world is strict and threatens the perpetrator of legal action. The same knowledge is applicable not only at school and work but also at the public places such as parks and residential areas. For instance, a stalking neighbor may bring a sensation of sexual harassment and should be reported.
When sexual harassment has occurred, it is essential to understand the different ways of dealing with it to avoiding the situation affecting other areas of life such as school and work (McLaughlin, Uggen, C., " Blackstone, 2012). First, it is essential to warn the harasser to stop and inform him/her that there is a plan to report the incident if it continues. Second, finding previously victims of the harrier who might have reported similar experiences and securing their testimony would be helpful when filing a complaint about the criminal. Whether at school or work find the appropriate channel and report the case. If the case is not solved after all these steps, it is essential to contact the equal employment opportunity commission which investigates sexual harassment at the workplace or file a lawsuit. Finally, seeking support from a psychiatrist would be a proper consideration to discuss the trauma and find coping strategies as shown by Rentoul, " Appleboom, (1997).
In conclusion, the cases of sexual harassment are common at schools, and the workplace and both women and men are victims. It is critical for people to be able to recognize when sexual harassment it occurs so they can prevent or protect themselves. However, when they occur they need to know the sources of help such as the courts, and schools management, and psychiatrist. Both the secular and Christian world has ways of dealing with sexual harassment. Whereas the secular world takes a strict approach to warm perpetrators, the Christians take as an opportunity to teach about morality before taking further action.
References
HerscH, J. (2015). Sexual harassment in the workplace. IZA World of Labor.
McLaughlin, H., Uggen, C., " Blackstone, A. (2012). Sexual harassment, workplace authority, and the paradox of power. American sociological review, 77(4), 625-647.
Rentoul, L., " Appleboom, N. (1997). Understanding the psychological impact of rape and serious sexual assault of men: a literature review. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 4(4), 267-274.
Stein, N. (1995). Sexual harassment in school: The public performance of gendered violence. Harvard Educational Review, 65(2), 145-163.
