The topic of the paper is sexual harassment as a social problem. For the last two decades the quantity of complaints about sexual harassments has increased significantly. I do not think this happened because people became more lecherous and therefore the quantity of harassments increased. The real reason is large discussions and awareness of people in this sensitive issue that encourages victims to sue the offender.
To begin with, the term sexual harassment needs to be specified, as it is often misunderstood and surrounded by myths and discussions. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines sexual harassment as:
Uninvited and unwelcome verbal or physical behaviour of a sexual nature especially by a person in authority toward a subordinate (as an employee or student).
The motivation of such behaviour may be connected not only with sexuality, but with aggression on the basis of religious convictions, race or political views. The principal feature of such behaviour is undesirability of attention. Even flowers, love notes, telephone calls, compliments and songs can be regarded as sexual harassment if they are unwelcome and undesired.
The problem of sexual assaults is not new, though the attention of the general public was drawn in the USA in the early 90s after Anita Hill allegations that Clarence Thomas had harassed her. According to the article “Sex, Lies and Politics: He Said, She Said” by Jill Smolowe (1991) in the Time Magazine US, after Anita Hill vs. Clarence Thomas hearings, the latter was confirmed as associate justice of the Supreme Court. But this was not the end, the cause célèbre focused the national attention on this topic and caused world wide debates and thus people could freely discuss the issue and consequently took the legal action of the case.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (1997), 44% of victims are under the age of 18 and 80% of those who experienced harassments are under the age of 30. The impact of sexual harassment can be different, both monetary harm (losing payment or promotion or even job) and negative impact on people’s emotional and physical health which may require the aid of psychiatrist. As the World Health Organization (2002) reports, victims of sexual harassment are 13 times more likely to misuse alcohol, 26 times more likely to misuse drugs and 4 times more likely to consider suicide.
In the World Report on Violence and Health by WHO (2002), it is suggested to distinguish two relatively distinct types of sexual harassment. The first one is called ‘quid pro quo harassment’. In such a case the offender promises the victim certain benefit, namely promotion, bigger salary, good mark on the exam etc, for satisfying his/ her whim.
The second category is called ‘hostile environment’. The environment on the working place or at school can be created by sexual advances that are not connected to the job directly and might come from supervisors, colleagues or peers or even from subordinates.
There are certain factors that increase the risk of sexual harassment which comprise: young age, alcohol or drug consumption, big quantity …