Harassment

Sexual harassment, is intimidation, bullying or coercion of a sexual nature, or the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. In some contexts or circumstances, sexual harassment may be illegal. It includes a range of behavior from seemingly mild transgressions and annoyances to actual 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 psychological) and bullying. For many businesses, preventing sexual harassment, and defending employees from sexual harassment charges, have become key goals of legal decision-making.

What is Harassment?

Someone is harassing you if:

• he is doing things to make you feel uncomfortable;
• he is saying things to make you feel uncomfortable;
• he is putting you at risk in some way

The harasser will pick anything that makes you seem different from him. You might be harassed because of your:

• gender;
• race;
• disability;
• age;
• looks;
• sexual preference;
• religious beliefs;
• family;
• birth place;
• political beliefs (including union activities).

You might be harassed just because the harasser doesn't get along with you. Someone might say that you are "as blind as a bat" or "retarded." Comments like these can be harassment. There are different kinds of harassment. Two common forms are sexual harassment and racial harassment.

Sexual harassment is any unwanted attention of a sexual nature, like remarks about your looks or personal life. Sometimes these comments sound like compliments, but they make you feel uneasy. Sexual harassment can include:

• degrading words or pictures (like graffiti, photos, or posters);
• physical contact of any kind;
• sexual demands.

Racial harassment is any action that expresses or promotes racial hatred and stereotypes. It can be obvious or subtle. It can include:

• spoken or written putdowns;
• gestures;
• jokes;
• other unwanted comments or acts.

Racial harassment can be hidden in questions or remarks that seem positive. Here are some examples:

• "You are really pretty for a black girl."
• "Tell me what it's like to always have your head and hair covered."
• "Women from the Philippines are better at that than Canadian women."
• "Native people are so good at crafts."

What is a Workplace?

Your workplace may be:

• an office;
• a factory;
• a building;
• a private home;
• a school;
• a store.

You may also work outdoors, on a road crew, or in a vehicle. The washroom, cafeteria, and locker room that you use are part of your workplace. So is any other place where your employer does business. Laws and policies are in place to protect you from harassment, no matter where you work.

You may work as a homemaker, nanny or nurse. You may go into someone's home twice a week to help with laundry and housekeeping. You may think that the rules about harassment don't apply in this workplace. In a private home, people are more free to do as they like, but you are still protected under the law. Different work environments mean different ways of dealing with harassment.

You may have to travel as part of your job. For example, you might:

• clean people's homes;
• repair equipment at different places;
• go to conferences or sales meetings.

You may experience harassment while getting from place to place. This can also be seen as workplace harassment. Your employer can't guarantee that you won't be harassed on a bus or walking along a street, but your safety on the job or on the way to and from the job is their concern.

Sometimes harassment that occurs outside the workplace affects your work. Actions like these can cause problems or harm relationships among employees:

• someone from work follows you or hangs around your home;
• phone calls and letters are sent to your home;
• things happen at staff parties or retreats.

Harassment Situations

Sexual harassment can 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). Forms of harassment relationships include:

• The harasser can be anyone, such as a client, a co-worker, 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 anyone who finds the behavior offensive and is affected by it.

• While adverse effects on the victim are common, this does not have to be the case for the behavior to be unlawful.

• The victim can be any gender. The harasser can be any gender.

• The harasser does not have to be of the opposite sex.

• 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. Adapted from the U.S. EEOC definition

• Misunderstanding between Female-Male Communication: 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 a certain stereotypical view of a woman such that he did not understand the woman’s explicit message to stop.(Heyman, 1994)

Types of Harassment

There is often more than one type of harassing behavior present, so a single harasser may fit more than one category. These are brief summations of each type.

• Power-player - Legally termed "quid pro quo" harassment, these harassers insist on sexual favors in exchange for benefits they can dispense because of their positions in hierarchies: getting or keeping a job, favorable grades, recommendations, credentials, projects, promotion, orders, and other types of opportunities.

• Mother/Father Figure (a.k.a. The Counselor-Helper) - These harassers will try to create mentor-like relationships with their targets, all the while masking their sexual intentions with pretenses towards personal, professional, or academic attention.

• One-of-the-Gang - Harassment occurs when groups of men or women embarrass others with lewd comments, physical evaluations, or other unwanted sexual attention. Harassers may act individually in order to belong or impress the others, or groups may gang up on a particular target.

• Serial Harasser - Harassers of this type carefully build up an image so that people would find it hard to believe they would do anyone any harm. They plan their approaches carefully, and strike in private so that it is their word against that of their victims.

• Groper - Whenever the opportunity presents itself, these harassers' eyes and hands begin to wander, engaging in unwanted physical contact that may start innocuous but lead to worse.

• Opportunist - Opportunist use physical settings and circumstances, or infrequently occurring opportunities, to mask premeditated or intentional sexual behavior towards targets. This will often involve changing the environment in order to minimize inhibitory effects of the workplace or school or taking advantage of physical tasks to 'accidentally' grope a target.

• Bully - In this case, a harasser uses physical threats to frighten and separate two would be lovers who willfully are engaging with each other. The intent of the harasser can be due to a range of reasons such as jealousy, racism, or their own hidden sexual agendas. Normally the harasser attempts to physically separate the two using their size or threats of physical violence and remains until they are satisfied by the separation or can pursue their own sexual agenda against one of the victims.

• Confidante - Harassers of this type approach subordinates, or students, as equals or friends, sharing about their own life experiences and difficulties, sharing stories to win admiration and sympathy, and inviting subordinates to share theirs so as to make them feel valued and trusted. Soon these relationships move into an intimate domain.

• Situational Harasser - Harassing behavior begins when the perpetrator endures a traumatic event (psychological), or begins to experience very stressful life situations, such as psychological or medical problems, marital problems, or divorce. The harassment will usually stop if the situation changes or the pressures are removed.

• Pest - This is the stereotypical "won't take 'no' for an answer" harasser who persists in hounding a target for attention and dates even after persistent rejections. This behavior is usually misguided, with no malicious intent.

• Great Gallant - This mostly verbal harassment involves excessive compliments and personal comments that focus on appearance and gender, and are out of place or embarrassing to the recipient. Such comments are sometimes accompanied by leering looks.

• Intellectual Seducer - Most often found in educational settings, these harassers will try to use their knowledge and skills as an avenue to gain access to students, or information about students, for sexual purposes. They may require students participate in exercises or "studies" that reveal information about their sexual experiences, preferences, and habits.

• Incompetent - These are socially inept individuals who desire the attentions of their targets, who do not reciprocate these feelings. They may display a sense of entitlement, believing their targets should feel flattered by their attentions. When rejected, this type of harasser may use bullying methods as a form of revenge.

• Stalking - Persistent watching, following, contacting or observing of an individual, sometimes motivated by what the stalker believes to be love, or by sexual obsession, or by anger and hostility.

• Unintentional - Acts or comments of a sexual nature, not intended to harass, can constitute sexual harassment if another person feels uncomfortable with such subjects.