What is Sexual Harassment?
Sexual harassment is defined as any unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature that affects a person’s working conditions or creates a hostile working environment. Sexual harassment is a form of sexual discrimination. Sexual harassment can take the form of verbal, visual or physical conduct.
Verbal Sexual Harassment
Verbal sexual harassment can be nonverbal, such as writing and typing, or verbal. Examples of verbal sexual harassment include:
- Comments about a person’s clothing.
- Comments about a person’s body.
- Comments regarding a person’s personal behavior.
- Telling or making jokes of a sexual nature or sex-based jokes.
- Repeatedly asking a person out on a date.
- Asking a person for sexual favors.
- Making sexual innuendoes.
- Spreading rumors regarding a person’s personal or sexual life.
- Making threats against a person.
Visual Sexual Harassment
Examples of visual sexual harassment includes:
- Posters of a sexual nature.
- Emails of a sexual nature.
- Drawings of a sexual nature.
- Pictures of a sexual nature.
- Computer screensavers or desktop backgrounds of a sexual nature.
- Making derogatory or facial expressions of a sexual nature.
- Following a person.
Physical Sexual Harassment
Examples of physical sexual harassment include:
- Assaulting a person.
- Impeding or blocking a person's movement.
- Inappropriately touching a person or a person's clothing.
- Kissing a person.
- Hugging a person.
- Patting a person.
- Stroking a person.
Sexual harassment can also take the form of non-sexual conduct such as being harassed because you are a female instead of a male or being harassed because you are a male instead of a female. Sexual harassment must be severe or pervasive. One incident of unwelcome conduct is not necessarily sexual harassment unless it is severe, although several repeated incidents would be classified as sexual harassment. Sexual harassment can affect males as well as females.