What is Sexual Harassment?

What is Sexual Harassment?

Sexual harassment can be classified as unwelcome sexual advances , requests for sexual favors, or verbal and/or sexual advances in the workplace or schools/ learning environment. Sexual harassment is not just sexual comments about one woman or person, it can also be negative comments about people as a whole.

According to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network, sexual assault is classified as:

  • Making conditions of an employment or any advancement in the workplace dependent on sexual favors

    • These favors can be done explicitly or implicitly

  • Physical acts of sexual assault

  • Requests for sexual favors

  • Verbal harassment of a sexual nature

    • included jokes with references to sexual acts or orientation

  • Unwanted physical touch or contact

  • Unwelcome sexual advances

  • Discussing sexual relationships/fantasies/stories at work, school, or any other inappropriate location

  • Feeling pressure to engage with someone sexually, which can also be classified as coercion

  • Exposing oneself or performing sexual acts on oneself

  • Unwanted sexually explicit photos, emails, or text messages

This site is directed towards helping anyone who goes through any of these traumas. What is important to understand is that no matter, what you or anyone you know has gone through one of those actions or many of those actions, to know that you are validated. No matter how you reacted in the moment to what was happening to you, or how you reacted for days, weeks, months, years after this happened, is all valid. Every person has a trauma response that kicks in, it makes you do anything and everything to survive in that moment. So, do not feel guilty or unworthy of help because you feel that "you could have done something else". You did what you had to do and that is what matters.

The assault definitions came from RAINN, the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network. This is a great resource to further understanding what sexual harassment is, what the difference is between sexual harassment and assult, what do to as a witness, gives tips into safety for parents and students, and more. The link to this website is below:

www.rainn.org/articles/sexual-harassment


If you want to understand the trauma responses that are common with sexual harassment, look to the information below:

In the moment that these actions are happening, people can fall within the fight, flight, freeze, or fauna trauma responses.

What does this mean?

Fight: facing any of the perceived threat aggressively, this usually entails physically

Flight: running away from the danger

Freeze: Unable to move or act against the threat

Fauna: Immediately trying to please the assaulter to avoid a conflict

*Any of these trauma responses are okay. It depends on the person for how they will respond to sexual violence. The reaction is them trying to stay alive. They may not be dying in the moment, but internally, it can feel like that, so your brain reacts this way, and that is okay. There is no judgement here. Remember, it is okay. You did nothing wrong.

** If you want more information or have any more questions, please look at this website or email the link provided on the homepage.

Website: www.simplypsychology.org/fight-flight-freeze-fawn.html