Have you ever offered sexual favours such as casual sex (outside a committed or dating relationship), to get someone to do something for you, be it getting your taxes done, helping you with your term paper, bargaining for a good grade, running an errand that you may find difficult to do or any other favour to aid your business or personal life?
A sexual favour is any sexual act occurring in an employee-employer relationship, exchanged for privileged treatment in a workplace such as increased salary, career advancement and other job-related requests. In other situations, it may be a teacher-student relationship in which the sexual favour may be for a passing grade in a subject.
Intellectual Seducer
Known as the intellectual seducer, these harassers will try to use their knowledge and skills to gain access to students, or information about them for sexual purposes. They may require student participation in exercises or "studies" that reveal information about their sexual experiences, preferences, and habits. They may use their skills, knowledge, and course content to impress students as an avenue to harass or seduce them for sexual favours.
In other situations, one person has something that you really want and can be exchanged for sex through sexual bribery. Some may judge sexual harassment as sexual abuse, propositioning or sexual bribery. What is sexual harassment? Sexual harassment is defined as "unwelcome sexual advances or conduct". Sexual harassment includes quid pro quo harassment or a hostile or offensive work environment. Sexual harassment is any kind of sexual conduct that is unwelcome and/or inappropriate for the workplace (The Free Dictionary)
The Free Dictionary further describes sexual harassment as sexual advances, requests for sexual favours, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual's employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual's work performance.
Forms of Sexual Harassment
Utah State University's Affirmative/Equal Opportunity Programme identified the following behaviours which could be viewed as sexual harassment when they are unwelcome.
VERBAL
Whistling or making catcalls at someone.
Making sexual comments about a person's clothes or body.
Telling sexual jokes or stories.
Asking personal questions about sexual life, fantasies, preferences or history.
Repeatedly "asking out" a person who is not interested.
Turning work discussions to sexual topics.
Referring to an adult woman or man as a hunk, doll, babe or honey.
Telling lies or spreading rumours about a person's personal sex life.
NON-VERBAL
Paying unwanted attention to someone (i.e., staring, following, blocking a person's path).
Displaying sexually suggestive visuals.
Making facial expressions such as winking, throwing kisses, or licking.
Giving personal gifts of a sexual nature.
Making sexual gestures with hands or through body movements.
PHYSICAL
Hanging around, standing close, or brushing up against a person.
Touching a person's clothes, hair, or body (to include giving a massage around the neck and shoulders).
Hugging, kissing, patting or stroking. The grouper harasser, who whenever the opportunity presents itself, grabs the buttocks or breasts of a woman or the man's penis - in the elevator, when working late, in the coffee room or at the office party.
Touching or rubbing oneself sexually around another person.
At the workplace, sexual harassment can come from the owner, supervisors, managers and co-workers. It may take the form of sexual favours, sexual advances, and confrontation with sexual demands (quid pro quo sexual harassment). Sexual harassment does not only occur in the workplace; it can occur off-site, at office functions and parties.
In exchange for sexual favours
Quid pro quo sexual harassment takes place when a supervisor or someone with authority over your job demands sexual favours in exchange for a promotion, raise or some other benefit, including keeping your job. The demand for sexual favours can be explicit, e.g., "If you have sex with me, I will promote you or I will give you a company car," or it can be implied from unwelcome physical contact, such as touching or fondling.
An employee has a right to work in an environment free of discrimination, intimidation, insult and ridicule. When harassment takes place, you have a potential claim for sexual harassment which may unreasonably interfere with your work performance or creates an offensive, hostile or intimidating work environment.
Third party sexual harassment
The person who sexually harasses another may be man or woman and the victim may be of the same sex. The harasser can be the victim's supervisor, an agent of the employer, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or a non-employee associated with the company. Very often, victims are not the ones directly harassed, but may be affected by the offensive, unwelcome conduct of the harasser to another. This is known as third-party sexual harassment.
The victim should directly inform the harasser that the conduct is unwelcome and must stop. The victim should use any employer complaint mechanism to report the matter. You should hold your employer accountable if you are a victim of sexual harassment at the workplace. You will have to show that a supervisor, or other senior staff with authority over your job, explicitly or implicitly solicited sexual favours with a view to having you retain your job, get a raise of pay or promotion, company car, business trip or other company-related benefits. You may also show that you objected to the solicitation by your workplace harasser.
Proving your case
As you present your case, you will need to demonstrate that the sexual advances were unwelcome. How do go about that?
1. A colleague can testify that you complained about it. You also told friends and/or family of the harassment.
2. Explicitly reject his/her sexual advances. With cellular phones, you can tape your objections in conversation with the harasser.
3. Show you suffered emotional distress - you may have had to get medical attention.
4. Show your job performance deteriorated.
5. You avoided contact/meetings with the harasser.
6. Show a record of the events surrounding the sexual harassment, include the date, time, place, and who was present.
Getting compensation
Check the company's policy on handling sexual harassment complaints. If the company has a procedure for filing a sexual harassment complaint you must comply with it. If you do not file a complaint, your employer can successfully defend itself from liability by arguing that he/she was not aware of the problem, and therefore was unable to remedy the problem. Once the employer knows or should know about the harassment, he/she has a duty to take immediate and appropriate corrective action to end the harassment.
If the company does not take action within a reasonable period of time, you should speak to an attorney to follow through with your case. You may be compensated by your employer if it is proven that you were deprived of a job benefit, example, failure to get promotion or your employment was terminated because you refused to accept your supervisor's sexual demands. The company may be ordered by a court to pay compensation for physical, mental and emotional injuries; pay punitive damages; pay your attorneys' fees and expenses associated with taking legal action in your case.
Prevention
According to Brendan Chao, attorney in civil litigation, prevention is the best tool to eliminate sexual harassment in the workplace. Employers are encouraged to take steps necessary to prevent sexual harassment from occurring. They should clearly communicate to employees that sexual harassment will not be tolerated. They can do so by establishing an effective complaint or grievance process and taking immediate and appropriate action when an employee complains.
DOs and DON'Ts of Sexual Harassment
Do
Admit that a problem exists.
Tell the offender specifically what you find offensive.
Tell the offender that his or her behaviour is bothering you.
Say specifically what you want or do not want to happen, such as "please call me by my name and not 'darling' or 'sweetheart'". You may also say, "Please don't tell that kind of joke in front of me."
Don't
Blame yourself for someone else's behaviour, unless it truly is inoffensive.
Choose to ignore the behaviour, unless it is truly inoffensive.
Try to handle any severe or recurring harassment problem by yourself - get help! (www.dotcr.ost.gov).
Be careful of serial harassers who will 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.