View source for Sexual harassment

{{short description|Unwanted sexual attention or advances}}
{{other uses}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2024}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2020}}
[[File:Bullying Sexual.JPG|thumb|right|200px|Acted depiction of a man making an unwelcome sexual advance on a woman by putting his hand on her thigh]]
{{Sex and the law}}{{Discrimination sidebar}}
'''Sexual harassment''' is a type of [[harassment]] based on the sex or gender of a victim. It can involve offensive sexist or sexual behavior, verbal or physical actions, up to bribery, coercion, and assault. Harassment may be explicit or implicit, with some examples including making unwanted sexually colored remarks, actions that insult and degrade by gender, showing pornography, demanding or requesting [[sexual favors]], offensive sexual advances, and any other unwelcome physical, verbal, or non-verbal (sometimes provocative) conduct based on sex.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Paludi |first1=Michele A. |url=https://archive.org/details/academicworkplac0000palu/page/2 |title=Academic and workplace sexual harassment: a resource manual |last2=Barickman |first2=Richard B. |publisher=SUNY Press |year=1991 |isbn=9780791408308 |location=Albany, NY |pages=[https://archive.org/details/academicworkplac0000palu/page/2 2–8] |chapter=Definitions and incidence of academic and workplace sexual harassment |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vx4qhVPOYUUC&pg=PA2}}</ref> Sexual harassment includes a range of actions from verbal transgressions to [[sexual abuse]] or [[sexual assault|assault]].<ref name="auto">Dziech, Billie Wright; Weiner, Linda. ''The Lecherous Professor: Sexual Harassment on Campus''.{{page needed|date=October 2012}} Chicago Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1990. {{ISBN|978-0-8070-3100-1}}; Boland, 2002{{page needed|date=October 2012}}</ref> Harassment can occur in many different social settings such as the workplace, the home, school, or religious institutions. Harassers or victims can be of any [[gender]].<ref name="eeoc">{{cite web | url = http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/sexual_harassment.cfm | title = Sexual Harassment | publisher = U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission | access-date = 2010-07-16 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190513132253/https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/sexual_harassment.cfm | archive-date = 2019-05-13 | url-status = live }}</ref>

In modern legal contexts, sexual harassment is illegal. Laws surrounding sexual harassment generally do not prohibit simple teasing, offhand comments, or minor isolated incidents—that is due to the fact that they do not impose a "general civility code".<ref>{{caselaw source |case=''Oncale v.Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc.'', 528 U.S. 75 (1998) |findlaw=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/523/75.html |justia=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/523/75/case.html}}</ref> In the workplace, harassment may be considered illegal when it is frequent or severe, thereby creating a hostile or offensive work environment, or when it results in an adverse employment decision (such as the victim's demotion, firing or quitting). The legal and social understanding of sexual harassment, however, varies by culture.

Sexual harassment by an employer is a form of illegal [[employment discrimination]]. For many businesses or organizations, preventing sexual harassment and defending employees from sexual harassment charges have become key goals of legal decision-making.

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==Etymology and history==
The modern legal understanding of sexual harassment was first developed in the 1970s, although related concepts have existed in many cultures.

=== The term "sexual harassment" ===
Legal activist [[Catharine MacKinnon]] is generally  credited with creating the laws surrounding sexual harassment in the United States with her 1979 book entitled ''Sexual Harassment of Working Women''.<ref name="U.Mich-2018" /> She used the term that appeared in a 1973 report about discrimination called ''"Saturn's Rings"'' by [[Mary Rowe]], Ph.D.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Kamberi|first1=Ferdi|last2=Gollopeni|first2=Besim|date=2015-12-01|title=The Phenomenon of Sexual Harassment at the Workplace in Republic of Kosovo|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316515762|journal=International Review of Social Sciences|volume=3|pages=13|access-date=2018-04-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003100810/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316515762|archive-date=2018-10-03|url-status=live}}</ref>  At the time, Rowe was the Special Assistant to the President and Chancellor for Women and Work at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] (MIT).<ref>Rowe, Mary, "Saturn's Rings," a study of the minutiae of sexism which form part of the scaffolding of sex and gender discrimination throughout contemporary society; published in Graduate and Professional Education of Women, American Association of University Women, 1974, pp.&nbsp;1–9. "Saturn's Rings II" is a 1975 updating of the original, with racist and sexist incidents from 1974 and 1975. Revised and republished as "The Minutiae of Discrimination: The Need for Support," in Forisha, Barbara and Barbara Goldman, Outsiders on the Inside, Women in Organizations, Prentice-Hall, Inc., New Jersey, 1981, Ch. 11, pp.&nbsp;155–171. {{ISBN|978-0-13-645382-6}}.</ref> Due to her efforts at MIT, the university was one of the first large organizations in the U.S. to develop specific policies and procedures aimed at stopping sexual harassment.

Rowe says that harassment of women in the workplace was being discussed in women's groups in Massachusetts in the early 1970s. At [[Cornell University]], instructor [[Lin Farley]] discovered that women in a discussion group repeatedly described being fired or quitting a job because they were harassed and intimidated by men.<ref name = "ss">{{cite book|last=Farley|first=Lin|title=Sexual Shakedown: The Sexual Harassment of Women on the Job|isbn=0070199574|url=https://archive.org/details/sexualshakedowns00far_x3q|year=1978|publisher=McGraw-Hill|url-access=registration}}</ref> She and colleagues used the term "sexual harassment" to describe the problem and generate interest in a "Speak Out" in May 1975. She later described sexual harassment at length in 1975 testimony before the New York City Human Rights Commission.<ref>"Testimony given by Lin Farley", ''Hearings on women in blue-collar, service, and clerical occupations|publisher=Commission on Human Rights of the City of New York,'' April 21, 1975</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=MacKinnon|first1=Catharine A.|last2=Siegel|first2=Reva B.|title=Directions in Sexual Harassment Law|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IhYip0PqV4EC&q=lin+farley&pg=PA8|year=2004|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=0-300-09800-6|page=8|access-date=2020-10-04|archive-date=2023-01-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230121175235/https://books.google.com/books?id=IhYip0PqV4EC&q=lin+farley&pg=PA8|url-status=live}}</ref> In the book ''In Our Time: Memoir of a Revolution'' (1999), journalist [[Susan Brownmiller]] says the women at Cornell became public activists after being asked for help by [[Carmita Dickerson Wood]], a 44-year-old single mother who was being harassed by a faculty member at Cornell's Department of Nuclear Physics.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Aron|first=Nina Renata|url=https://timeline.com/carmita-wood-sexual-harrassment-f2c537a0e1e8|title=Groping in the Ivy League led to the first sexual harassment suit—and nothing happened to the man|date=2017-10-20|work=Timeline|access-date=2018-04-11|archive-date=2020-09-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929070012/https://timeline.com/carmita-wood-sexual-harrassment-f2c537a0e1e8|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nuY_BAAAQBAJ&q=carmita+wood&pg=PA146|title=Cornell: A History, 1940–2015|last1=Altschuler|first1=Glenn C.|last2=Kramnick|first2=Isaac|date=2014-08-12|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=9780801471889|pages=146|language=en|access-date=2020-10-04|archive-date=2023-01-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230121175235/https://books.google.com/books?id=nuY_BAAAQBAJ&q=carmita+wood&pg=PA146|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Brownmiller|first=Susan|title=In our time : memoir of a revolution|date=1999|publisher=Dial Press|isbn=0-385-31486-8|location=New York|pages=281|oclc=41885669}}</ref> Farley wrote a book, ''Sexual Shakedown: The Sexual Harassment of Women on the Job'', published by McGraw-Hill in 1978 and in a paperback version by Warner Books in 1980.<ref name = "ss"/>

These activists, Lin Farley, Susan Meyer, and Karen Sauvigne, went on to form [[Working Women United]], which, along with the [[Alliance Against Sexual Coercion]] (founded in 1976 by [[Freada Klein]], Lynn Wehrli, and Elizabeth Cohn-Stuntz), was among the pioneer organizations to bring sexual harassment to public attention in the late 1970s. One of the first legal formulations of the concept of sexual harassment as consistent with sex discrimination and therefore prohibited behavior under [[Civil Rights Act of 1964|Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964]] appeared in the 1979 seminal book by Catharine MacKinnon<ref name="U.Mich-2018">{{Cite web|url=https://www.law.umich.edu/FacultyBio/Pages/FacultyBio.aspx?FacID=camtwo|title=MacKinnon, Catharine A.|website=University of Michigan Law School|language=en-US|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180411204853/https://www.law.umich.edu/FacultyBio/Pages/FacultyBio.aspx?FacID=camtwo|archive-date=2018-04-11|access-date=2018-04-11}}</ref> entitled "Sexual Harassment of Working Women".<ref>{{cite book | last = MacKinnon | first = Catharine | title = Sexual Harassment of Working Women: A Case of Sex Discrimination. | publisher = Yale University Press | location = New Haven, Connecticut | year = 1979 | isbn = 9780300022995 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/sexualharassment00cath }}</ref>

=== Key cases ===
Sexual harassment first became codified in U.S. law as the result of a series of sexual harassment cases in the 1970s and 1980s. Many of the early women pursuing these cases were African American, often former civil rights activists who applied principles of civil rights to sex discrimination.<ref name="Lipsitz-2017">{{Cite news|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/sexual-harassment-law-was-shaped-by-the-battles-of-black-women/|title=Sexual Harassment Law Was Shaped by the Battles of Black Women|last=Lipsitz|first=Raina|date=2017-10-20|work=The Nation|access-date=2018-04-12|language=en-US|issn=0027-8378|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180408074746/https://www.thenation.com/article/sexual-harassment-law-was-shaped-by-the-battles-of-black-women/|archive-date=2018-04-08|url-status=live}}</ref>

''[[Diane R. Williams|Williams]] v. Saxbe'' (1976) and ''[[Barnes v. Train|Paulette L. Barnes, Appellant, v. Douglas M. Costle, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency]]'' (1977) determined it was sex discrimination to fire someone for refusing a supervisor's advances.<ref name="Lipsitz-2017" /><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2wBPD1vvTCYC&q=%22Diane+Williams%22&pg=PA92|title=The Women's Movement Against Sexual Harassment|last=Baker|first=Carrie N.|date=2008|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521879354|language=en|access-date=2020-10-04|archive-date=2023-01-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230121175236/https://books.google.com/books?id=2wBPD1vvTCYC&q=%22Diane+Williams%22&pg=PA92|url-status=live}}</ref> Around the same time, ''[[Bundy v. Jackson]]'' (1981) was the first [[United States courts of appeals|federal appeals court]] case to hold that workplace sexual harassment was employment discrimination.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Mullins|first=Luke|url=https://www.washingtonian.com/2018/03/04/hertoo-40-years-ago-this-woman-helped-make-sexual-harassment-illegal-sandra-bundy/|title=#HerToo: 40 Years Ago This Woman Helped Make Sexual Harassment Illegal|date=2018-03-04|work=Washingtonian|access-date=2018-04-10|url-status=live|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180410135537/https://www.washingtonian.com/2018/03/04/hertoo-40-years-ago-this-woman-helped-make-sexual-harassment-illegal-sandra-bundy/|archive-date=2018-04-10}}</ref> Five years later the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] agreed with this holding in ''[[Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson]].'' Another pioneering legal case was ''[[Alexander v. Yale]]'' (1980), which established that the sexual harassment of female students could be considered sex discrimination under [[Title IX]], and was thus illegal. The first class-action lawsuit, ''[[Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co.]]'', was filed in 1988 (concluding nine years later).

=== Beyond sexual advances ===
The definition of sexual harassment has changed over time, and legal definitions now differ in some ways from those used by psychologists and other researchers. Over the 1980s and 1990s, psychologists defined ''gender harassment'' as a key subtype of sexual harassment. Gender harassment is a class of verbal or nonverbal behaviors that insult or provoke based on gender: examples include sexual comments or jokes, sexualized imagery, and comments based on gendered stereotypes.<ref name="Fitzgerald-1995" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Berdahl |first1=Jennifer L. |last2=Magley |first2=Vicki J. |last3=Waldo |first3=Craig R. |date=1996 |title=The Sexual Harassment of Men? |url=https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-6402.1996.tb00320.x |journal=Psychology of Women Quarterly |volume=20 |pages=531–532 |doi=10.1111/j.1471-6402.1996.tb00320.x |via=Sage Journals|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Notably, all of these examples were provided in Rowe's original 1973 ''Saturn's Rings'' report on sexual harassment and discrimination.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rowe |first=Mary P. |date=December 1973 |title=The Progress of Women in Educational Institutions: The Saturn's Rings Phenomenon |url=https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/155302/Rowe_PA_1973_Saturns-Rings-with-Case-Study.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |journal=Report to MIT Academic Council}}</ref> There are many motivations for gender harassment, but two important ones are sexist beliefs and [[gender policing]]. Both factors cause gender harassment to reinforce existing [[gender role]]s, causing legal scholar [[Katherine Franke]] to label gender harassment as "a technology of sexism."<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Rabelo |first1=Verónica Caridad |last2=Cortina |first2=Lilia M. |date=2014 |title=Two Sides of the Same Coin: Gender Harassment and Heterosexist Harassment in LGBQ Work Lives |url=https://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000087 |journal=Law and Human Behavior |volume=38 |issue=4 |pages=379–380|doi=10.1037/lhb0000087 |pmid=24933169 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Because gender harassment has nothing to do with sexual attraction and is not a type of sexual advance, it can be confusing that it is a type of sexual harassment, when the word "sexual" seems to imply underlying sexual desire. Some researchers have advocated for the term "sexual harassment" to be replaced with "sex-based harassment" to emphasize the fact that these types of harassment center on someone's gender, not the presence of sexual desire in harassment.<ref name=":1" />

In the late 1990s, some legal scholars began to advocate for more explicitly including gender harassment in sexual harassment law, but this was a minority view.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Leskinen |first1=Emily A. |last2=Cortina |first2=Lilia M. |last3=Kabat |first3=Dana M. |date=2010 |title=Gender Harassment: Broadening Our Understanding of Sex-Based Harassment at Work |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s10979-010-9241-5 |journal=Law and Human Behavior |volume=35 |issue=1|pages=25–39 |doi=10.1007/s10979-010-9241-5 |pmid=20661766 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Existing sexual harassment law frequently does cover some instances of gender harassment, but it is often viewed as less severe than other types of sexual harassment in a legal context. However, psychologists continue to emphasize study of gender harassment because it is by far the most common type of harassment and has major negative consequences both for the individuals faced with it and the groups who are exposed to repeated gender harassment.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Parker |first1=Sharon K. |last2=Griffin |first2=Mark A. |date=2002 |title=What Is So Bad About a Little Name-Calling? Negative Consequences of Gender Harassment for Overperformance Demands and Distress |url=https://doi.org/10.1037//1076-8998.7.3.195 |journal=Journal of Occupational Health Psychology |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=195–196|doi=10.1037/1076-8998.7.3.195 |pmid=12148952 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

== Aspects ==
One of the difficulties in understanding sexual harassment is that it involves a range of [[behavior]]s. In most cases (although not in all cases) it is difficult for the victim to describe what they experienced. This can be related to difficulty classifying the situation or could be related to [[stress (biology)|stress]] and [[humiliation]] experienced by the recipient. Moreover, behavior and motives vary between individual cases.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Louise|first=Fitzgerald|year=1995|title=Why Didn't She Just Report Him? The Psychological and Legal Implications of Women's Responses to Sexual Harassment |journal=Journal of Social Issues|volume=51|pages=117–138 |doi=10.1111/j.1540-4560.1995.tb01312.x }}</ref> Many instances of sexual harassment are not actually labelled that way by involved parties. For female victims, only in 1/4 of sexual harassment cases do victims self-label the incident as sexual harassment. The rate is even lower for male victims. However, whether victims label an incident as sexual harassment or not, they report the same levels of distress and negative impact.<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal |last1=Cortina |first1=Lilia M. |last2=Areguin |first2=Maira A. |date=2021 |title=Putting People Down and Pushing Them Out: Sexual Harassment in the Workplace |url=https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/liliacortina-lab/wp-content/uploads/sites/970/2021/12/Cortina-Areguin-2021-Annual-Review.pdf |journal=Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior |volume=8 |pages=294–295|doi=10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-012420-055606 }}</ref> This labeling issue was first discovered after other researchers found that victims of rape are similarly unlikely to label their experience as rape.<ref name=":4" />

=== Types of sexual harassment ===
Scientists commonly classify types of sexual harassment via Fitzgerald's Tripartite Model of Sexual Harassment, which has been validated across gender, ethnicity, nation, and industry. The model divides sexual harassment into gender harassment, unwanted sexual attention, and sexual coercion. Gender harassment includes insults based on gender stereotypes, sexual slurs or imagery, and other degrading or hostile communications that aim to "put people down and push them out" due to their sex.<ref name=":7" /> There are two types of gender harassment: sexist hostility, like insulting gendered jokes, insults based on gender stereotypes, or even sabotage; and crude harassment, which includes gendered slurs and sexualized insults.<ref name=":4" /> In contrast, unwanted sexual attention refers to unwelcome sexual advances, like inappropriately talking about sex, pestering someone for sexual or romantic purposes, nonconsensual physical touch, and in extreme cases, sexual assault. Sexual coercion includes explicit and implicit attempts to bribe or threaten someone into sexual cooperation. Gender harassment is by far the most common type of sexual harassment, and coercion is the rarest, but popular awareness of harassment is the opposite, making it harder to identify and understand sexual harassment. Psychology researcher Lilia Cortina developed an iceberg model to describe the many behaviors of sexual harassment, showing how sexual coercion and unwanted sexual attention are the small set of harassment behaviors easily viewable on the surface, but the vast majority of sexual harassment types lie underneath the surface in the category of gender harassment.<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal |last1=Cortina |first1=Lilia M. |last2=Areguin |first2=Maira A. |date=2021 |title=Putting People Down and Pushing Them Out: Sexual Harassment in the Workplace |url=https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/liliacortina-lab/wp-content/uploads/sites/970/2021/12/Cortina-Areguin-2021-Annual-Review.pdf |journal=Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior |volume=8 |pages=287–288, 294|doi=10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-012420-055606 }}</ref>

=== Intersectional forms of sexual harassment ===
When men sexually harass men, it tends to take the form of gender harassment for the purpose of punishing their targets for deviating from traditional male gender roles. The harasser may see their victim as not fulfilling traditional masculinity values, whether they are gay, young or inexperienced.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Cortina |first1=Lilia M. |last2=Areguin |first2=Maira A. |date=2021 |title=Putting People Down and Pushing Them Out: Sexual Harassment in the Workplace |url=https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/liliacortina-lab/wp-content/uploads/sites/970/2021/12/Cortina-Areguin-2021-Annual-Review.pdf |journal=Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior |volume=8 |pages=292|doi=10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-012420-055606 }}</ref> When women of color are sexually harassed, it often includes racial harassment, and when non-straight women are harassed, it often is a combination of sexual and heterosexist harassment. Both populations experience much greater harassment than people with only one of their intersecting identities.<ref name=":4" /> Racialized sexual harassment may involve sexual remarks that also bring up race, pet names with racial histories, or even explicitly racialized nicknames. All of these may be built off of existing stereotypes that combine race and gender.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Cortina |first1=Lilia M. |last2=Areguin |first2=Maira A. |date=2021 |title=Putting People Down and Pushing Them Out: Sexual Harassment in the Workplace |url=https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/liliacortina-lab/wp-content/uploads/sites/970/2021/12/Cortina-Areguin-2021-Annual-Review.pdf |journal=Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior |volume=8 |pages=301|doi=10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-012420-055606 }}</ref>

=== Motivations for sexual harassment ===
Author Martha Langelan describes four different classes of harassers.<ref>Langelan, Martha. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=laA-lkQq8soC Back Off: How to Confront and Stop Sexual Harassment and Harassers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160105082011/https://books.google.com/books?id=laA-lkQq8soC&printsec=frontcover |date=2016-01-05 }}''. Fireside, 1993. {{ISBN|978-0-671-78856-8}}.</ref>
* A predatory harasser: a person who gets sexual thrills from humiliating others. This harasser may become involved in sexual extortion, and may frequently harass just to see how targets respond. Those who do not resist may even become targets for rape.
* A dominance harasser: the most common type, who engages in harassing behavior as an ego boost.
* Strategic or territorial harassers who seek to maintain privilege in jobs or physical locations, for example a man's harassment of a female employee in a predominantly male occupation.
* A [[Street harassment|street harasser]]: Another type of sexual harassment performed in public places by strangers. Street harassment includes verbal and nonverbal behavior, remarks that are frequently sexual in nature and comment on physical appearance or a person's presence in public.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Street Harassment and the Informal Ghettoization of Women |first=Cynthia Grant |last=Bowman |journal=Harvard Law Review |volume=106 |issue=3 |date=Jan 1993 |pages=517–80 |jstor=1341656 |doi=10.2307/1341656 |url=http://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1141&context=facpub |access-date=2019-09-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200109090954/http://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1141&context=facpub |archive-date=2020-01-09 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
The perpetrators of sexual harassment are more likely to be male than another gender. In one 2018 survey of U.S. federal workers, for their most-distressing sexual harassment incidents, 82% of the harassers were men. Researchers theorize that this is because sexual harassment is an expression of someone's power in a way that protects or enhances that power, because it reinforces someone's privileged status based on their gender. Because today's societies empower men over people of other genders, sexual harassment is currently more likely to be perpetrated by men. This power-based theory of harassment also explains why sexual harassment often targets and punishes people for deviating from traditional gender roles. People are more likely to sexually harass when they hold hostile, sexist beliefs and believe in the gender binary, thinking that men and women should stay in certain proper roles. However, whether they actually harass others strongly depends on the situation: organizations that tolerate or don't care about harassment, and places that prioritize men by numbers or leadership are very likely to have sexual harassment occur.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Cortina |first1=Lilia M. |last2=Areguin |first2=Maira A. |date=2021 |title=Putting People Down and Pushing Them Out: Sexual Harassment in the Workplace |url=https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/liliacortina-lab/wp-content/uploads/sites/970/2021/12/Cortina-Areguin-2021-Annual-Review.pdf |journal=Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior |volume=8 |pages=287, 292, 295–296|doi=10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-012420-055606 }}</ref> Because harassment is often a reinforcement of power and gender roles, it shapes common forms of harassment. Harassment is often ambient: not targeted at an individual, but public or pervasive in a setting so that it affects many bystanders. Even targeted harassment can affect and harass other observers when it takes place publicly.<ref name=":4" />

==Situations==
Sexual harassment may occur in a variety of circumstances and in places as varied as factories, schools, colleges, the theater, and the music business.<ref>{{cite news|last=Philips|first=Chuck|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-04-18-ca-24123-story.html|title=Cover Story: You've Still Got a Long Way to Go, Baby|date=April 18, 1993|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|access-date=10 September 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921061308/http://articles.latimes.com/1993-04-18/entertainment/ca-24123_1_chief-executive-officer|archive-date=21 September 2013}}</ref><ref name="Sexual harassment 1">{{cite news|last=Becklund Philips|first=Laurie Chuck|title=Sexual Harassment Claims Confront Music Industry: Bias: Three record companies and a law firm have had to cope with allegations of misconduct by executives|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-11-03-mn-1568-story.html|access-date=22 July 2012|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=November 3, 1991|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921061222/http://articles.latimes.com/1991-11-03/news/mn-1568_1_sexual-harassment|archive-date=21 September 2013|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Sexual harassment 2">{{cite news|last=Philips|first=Chuck|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-03-05-ca-4917-story.html|title='Anita Hill of Music Industry' Talks : * Pop music: Penny Muck, a secretary whose lawsuit against Geffen Records sparked a debate about sexual harassment in the music business, speaks out in her first extended interview|date=March 5, 1992|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|access-date=February 11, 2020|archive-date=February 20, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200220034850/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-03-05-ca-4917-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="sexual harssment 3">{{cite news|last=Philips|first=Chuck|title=Geffen Firm Said to Settle Case of Sex Harassment : Litigation: An out-of-court settlement of $500,000 is reportedly reached in one suit, but another may be filed|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-11-17-ca-801-story.html|access-date=22 July 2012|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=November 17, 1992|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921061158/http://articles.latimes.com/1992-11-17/entertainment/ca-801_1_sexual-harassment|archive-date=21 September 2013|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Sexual Harassment 4">{{cite news|last=Philips|first=Chuck|title=Controversial Record Exec Hired by Def|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-07-21-ca-4385-story.html|access-date=22 July 2012|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=July 21, 1992|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921061137/http://articles.latimes.com/1992-07-21/entertainment/ca-4385_1_sexual-harassment|archive-date=21 September 2013|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="review of Chuck Philips women in music article">{{cite news|last=Laursen|first=Patti|title=Women in Music|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-05-02-ca-30043-story.html|access-date=10 September 2013|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=May 3, 1993|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921061242/http://articles.latimes.com/1993-05-02/entertainment/ca-30043_1_recording-industry-classical-labels-cbs-masterworks|archive-date=21 September 2013|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Philips uncovers sexual harassment in the music business">{{cite book |last1=Barnet |last2=Burriss |last3=Fischer |first1=Richard |first2=Larry |first3=Paul |title=Controversies in the music business |date=September 30, 2001 |publisher=Greenwood |isbn=978-0313310942 |pages=112–114 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PKG5er5AnBkC&q=Chuck+Philips+sexual+harassment&pg=PA113 |access-date=October 4, 2020 |archive-date=January 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230121175237/https://books.google.com/books?id=PKG5er5AnBkC&q=Chuck+Philips+sexual+harassment&pg=PA113 |url-status=live }}</ref> Often, the perpetrator has or is about to have [[Power (social and political)|power]] or authority over the victim (owing to differences in social, political, educational or employment relationships as well as in age). Harassment relationships are specified in many ways:
* The perpetrator can be anyone, such as a client, a partner, a co-worker, a parent or legal guardian, relative, a teacher or professor, a student, a friend, or a stranger.
* Harassment can occur in varying locations, in schools,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sior.ub.edu/jspui/cris/socialimpact/socialimpact00415|title=Reporting of violence against women in University. [Social Impact]. VGU. Gender-based Violence in Spanish Universities (2006–2008).|date=2017|website=SIOR, Social Impact Open Repository|publisher=Universitat de Barcelona|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180718030651/http://sior.ub.edu/jspui/cris/socialimpact/socialimpact00415|archive-date=2018-07-18}}</ref> colleges, workplaces, in public, and in other places.
* Harassment can occur whether or not there are witnesses to it.
* The perpetrator may be completely unaware that their behavior is offensive or constitutes sexual harassment. The perpetrator may be completely unaware that their actions could be unlawful.<ref name="eeoc" />
* Incidents of harassment can take place in situations in which the targeted person may not be aware of or understand what is happening.
* An incident may be a one-time occurrence.
* Adverse effects on harassed persons include stress, social withdrawal, sleep disorders, eating difficulties, and other impairments of health.
* The victim and perpetrator can be any gender.
* The incident may arise from misunderstanding by the perpetrator and/or the victim. These misunderstandings can be reasonable or unreasonable.
* The perpetrator may be motivated by many things, including wanting to belittle, embarrass, or intimidate the victim because of their sex, or in wanting to express sexual desire<ref>{{Cite web |title=Questions and Answers for Employees: Harassment at Work |url=https://www.eeoc.gov/questions-and-answers-employees-harassment-work |access-date=2025-01-13 |website=U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission |language=en}}</ref> 
With the advent of the internet, social interactions, including sexual harassment, increasingly occur online, for example [[sexual harassment in video gaming|in video games]] or in chat rooms.

According to the 2014 PEW research statistics on online harassment, 25% of women and 13% of men between the ages of 18 and 24 have experienced sexual harassment while online.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2014/10/22/online-harassment/|title=Online Harassment|last=Duggan|first=Maeve|date=October 22, 2014|website=Pew Research Center|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200201015535/https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2014/10/22/online-harassment/|archive-date=1 February 2020|access-date=11 February 2020}}</ref>

=== In the workplace in the United States ===
{{Further|Sexual harassment in education|Sexual harassment in the workplace in the United States}}

The United States' [[Equal Employment Opportunity Commission]] (EEOC) defines workplace sexual harassment as harassment based on a victim's sex, including "offensive remarks about a person's sex" or "unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature."<ref name="eeoc" /> Harassment is illegal "when this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual's employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual's work performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment".<ref>{{Cite web |date=1997-01-15 |title=Fact Sheet: Sexual Harassment Discrimination |url=https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/fact-sheet-sexual-harassment-discrimination |access-date=2025-01-13 |website=U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission |language=en}}</ref>  "The challenged conduct must be unwelcome in the sense that the employee did not solicit or incite it, and in the sense that the employee regarded the conduct as undesirable or offensive."<ref name="unwelcome">{{cite web |url=https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/policy-guidance-current-issues-sexual-harassment |title=Policy Guidance on Current Issues of Sexual Harassment |author=<!--Not stated--> |website= |date=19 March 1990 |publisher=U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission |access-date=2021-08-06 |quote= |archive-date=2020-06-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605132047/https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/policy-guidance-current-issues-sexual-harassment |url-status=live }}</ref> "Particularly when the alleged harasser may have some reason (e.g., prior consensual relationship) to believe that the advances will be welcomed, it is important for the victim to communicate that the conduct is unwelcome."<ref name="unwelcome" />

Surveys vary widely in determining how frequently sexual harassment occurs in workplaces. A well-regarded 2003 meta-survey concluded that about 58% of women have been sexually harassed at work.<ref name=":4">National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/24994</ref> Another survey concluded that 13% of male employees have been harassed at work.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}} In a 2024 study, 42% of transgender employees reported having been sexually harassed at work.<ref>{{Cite web |date=November 2024 |title=Workplace Experiences of Transgender Employees |url=https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/transgender-workplace-discrim/ |access-date=2025-01-13 |website=UCLA School of Law Williams Institute |language=en-US}}</ref> Women made 78.2% of the workplace sexual harassment complaints filed with the EEOC from 2018 to 2021.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Sexual Harassment in Our Nation's Workplaces |url=https://www.eeoc.gov/data/sexual-harassment-our-nations-workplaces#_ftn2 |access-date=2025-01-13 |website=U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission |language=en}}</ref> Only about 30% of workplace sexual harassment victims tell their supervisor or union representative about the harassment, and only 6-13% ever file a formal complaint. Managers often relabel sexual harassment claims as mere interpersonal disagreements and retaliation is common.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Feldblum |first1=Chai R. |last2=Lipnic |first2=Victoria A. |date=June 2016 |title=Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace |url=https://www.eeoc.gov/select-task-force-study-harassment-workplace#_ftn65 |access-date=2025-01-13 |website=U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission |language=en}}</ref> Thus 43.5% of EEOC sexual harassment complaints included retaliation complaints in 2018–2021.<ref name=":2" /> A survey of harassment case plaintiffs found that 24% had been fired for complaining of harassment, and another 42% had resigned due to the harassment.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Gregory |first=Raymond F. |title=Unwelcome and Unlawful: Sexual Harassment in the American Workplace |publisher=Cornell University Press |year=2018 |location=Ithaca |pages=157}}</ref>

Most workplace sexual harassment is perpetrated by coworkers or peers rather than managers. Workplace culture is one of the strongest determining factors for sexual harassment: sexual harassment is more likely in fields that are seen as traditionally masculine, or companies where men outnumber women, or leadership is dominated by men. Organizational tolerance of harassment, sexism, or alcohol use, and institutions with strong power hierarchies also increase the likelihood of harassment.<ref name=":4" /> Based on data from the EEOC, the industries with the most sexual harassment reports between 2005 and 2015 were restaurant and hospitality, health care, academia, and the military. Sources of harassment vary widely by industry. For nurses, 58% have been harassed by a patient, 26% by a colleague, and 19% by a patient's acquaintances. In the U.S. military, 60% of sexual harassment is caused by a supervisor.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}} For restaurant industry employees, around 66% of women and 50% of men have been sexually harassed by management, and around 80% of women and 55% of men had been sexually harassed by customers.<ref>The Restaurant Opportunities Centers United Forward Together. (2024). ''[https://www.scribd.com/document/242133572/The-Glass-Floor-Sexual-Harassment-in-the-Restaurant-Industry The Glass Floor: Sexual Harassment in the Restaurant Industry]''. Retrieved January 13, 2025.</ref>

Most sexual harassment at work takes the form of gender harassment. A far smaller number of harassment victims report experiencing sexual coercion at work: this was about 4% of women surveyed across factory settings and academia in 1997. Workplace sexual harassment is frequently repeated, with less than a third of victims describing harassment as a one-time occurrence, and many stating it had lasted for weeks to months.<ref name=":4" /> Whether sexual harassment incidents include physical harassment usually depends on industry: around 50% of sexual harassment complaints by blue-collar workers included a physical component, compared to 32% of complaints by managers. A study of harassment legal cases in 1986-1995 found that more than half of their instances of workplace harassment happened entirely outside of the normal workplace, with a third including letters, phone calls, or visits to the victim's house.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gregory |first=Raymond F. |title=Unwelcome and Unlawful: Sexual Harassment in the American Workplace |publisher=Cornell University Press |year=2018 |location=Ithaca |pages=28, 78}}</ref>

{{See also|Anita Hill|Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination}}
[[File:"I Believe Anita Hill" Button.jpg|thumb|upright=.90|An "I Believe Anita Hill" pin in support of [[Anita Hill]]'s 1991 testimony to the [[United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|Senate Judiciary Committee]], where she accused [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]] nominee [[Clarence Thomas]] of sexual harassment]]
In 1991, [[Anita Hill]] witnessed and testified to the [[United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|Senate Judiciary Committee]] against [[Supreme Court of the United States]] nominee [[Clarence Thomas]], citing sexual harassment.<ref name="techrep">Bowers, Toni; Hook, Brian. [http://www.techrepublic.com/article/hostile-work-environment-a-managers-legal-liability/5035282 Hostile work environment: A manager's legal liability] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160710203301/http://www.techrepublic.com/article/hostile-work-environment-a-managers-legal-liability/5035282/ |date=2016-07-10 }}, Tech Republic. October 22, 2002. Retrieved on March 3, 2012.</ref> Hill said on October 11, 1991, in televised hearings that Thomas had sexually harassed her while he was her supervisor at the Department of Education and the [[Equal Employment Opportunity Commission|EEOC]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=Anita Hill's Testimony and Other Key Moments From the Clarence Thomas Hearings |work=The New York Times |date=20 September 2018 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/20/us/politics/anita-hill-testimony-clarence-thomas.html |access-date=2022-07-15 |archive-date=2021-12-29 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211229221215/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/20/us/politics/anita-hill-testimony-clarence-thomas.html |url-status=bot: unknown |last1=Jacobs |first1=Julia }}</ref> According to Hill, Thomas asked her out socially many times during her two years of employment as his assistant,<ref name="Suro">{{Cite news |last=Suro |first=Roberto |date=1991-10-08 |title=The Thomas Nomination – A Law Professor Defends Integrity |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/08/us/the-thomas-nomination-a-law-professor-defends-integrity.html |access-date=2022-07-15 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=2018-11-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181127022630/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/08/us/the-thomas-nomination-a-law-professor-defends-integrity.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and after she declined his requests, he used work situations to discuss sexual subjects and push advances.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/senate/judiciary/sh102-1084pt4/41-124.pdf |access-date=2022-07-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111107034024/http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/senate/judiciary/sh102-1084pt4/41-124.pdf |archive-date=2011-11-07|title=Testimony of Anita Hill }}</ref><ref name="Suro"/> Since Hill testified in 1991, the term ''sexual harassment'' became known outside academic and legal circles, and the number of cases reported in the United States and Canada increased markedly, climbing steadily since.<ref name="techrep" /> Sexual harassment is discussed a lot in modern society. People are becoming more and more concerned about the laws of sexual harassment therein. Many school groups are focusing on this matter.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pilgaard |first1=Frida |last2=Agardh |first2=Anette |last3=Östergren |first3=Per-Olof |last4=Priebe |first4=Gisela |date=2022-12-20 |title=Association between Experiences of Different Types of Harassment or Derogatory Treatment and Sexual Harassment among Employees at a Large Swedish University |journal=International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=11 |doi=10.3390/ijerph20010011 |pmid=36612332 |pmc=9819109 |issn=1660-4601 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
{{See also|Paula Jones|Bill Clinton sexual assault and misconduct allegations}}

In 1994, Paula Jones, a civil servant and former Arkansas state employee, sued President [[Bill Clinton]] for sexual harassment. In the initial lawsuit, Jones cited Clinton for sexual harassment at a hotel in 1991. Following a series of civil suits and appeals the case was settled in 1998. President Clinton reached an out-of-court settlement with Jones, agreeing to pay her $850,000 but acknowledging no wrongdoing.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Washingtonpost.com: Jones v. Clinton Special Report |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/pjones/timeline.htm |access-date=2022-07-15 |newspaper=The Washington Post |archive-date=2018-09-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180912124457/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/pjones/timeline.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Sexual bribery====
A sexual bribe is the solicitation of sex, any sexual activity or other sex-linked behavior for a promise of elevation in work status or pay. It is in an employment setting in which a sexual relationship with an employer or superior is made an explicit or implied condition for obtaining/retaining employment or its benefits. A sexual bribe may be either overt or subtle but falls under the type of [[quid pro quo]] sexual harassment.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newyorkcitydiscriminationlawyer.com/sexual-bribery.html|title=Sexual Bribery Manhattan Sexual Harassment Attorneys|access-date=2022-02-12|archive-date=2015-10-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017003002/https://www.newyorkcitydiscriminationlawyer.com/sexual-bribery.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Girl watching ====

Girl watching is considered a game amongst men in which they sexually evaluate women. This game is a form of sexual harassment, one that is very common in the workplace.<ref name="Quinn-2002b">{{Cite journal |last=Quinn |first=Beth A. |date=2002 |title=Sexual Harassment and Masculinity: The Power and Meaning of "Girl Watching" |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0891243202016003007 |journal=Gender & Society |language=en |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=386–402 |doi=10.1177/0891243202016003007 |s2cid=145230013 |issn=0891-2432 |access-date=2023-05-08 |archive-date=2023-04-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407061826/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0891243202016003007 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> This game, just like other forms of sexual harassment are not the actions of an individual outside of the norm, but rather of those within it.<ref name="Messner-2016"/> An analysis of sexual harassment surveys, conducted by Ilies, revealed that when the question regarding sexual harassment was phrased 'if women had ever experienced sexual harassment' then the frequency of women's responses was 24%, whereas if women were asked 'if they had experienced sexually harassing behaviors' then the frequency was 58%.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Remus |last=Ilies |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/926296251 |title=Reported incidence rates of work-related sexual harassment in the United States : using meta-analysis to explain reported rate disparities. |date=2003-09-01 |publisher=Personnel Psychology, Inc |oclc=926296251 |access-date=2023-05-08 |archive-date=2024-05-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518022057/https://search.worldcat.org/title/926296251 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Beth Quinn (2002), the author of "Sexual Harassment and Masculinity: The Power and Meaning of 'Girl Watching{{' "}} originally was not researching girl watching when she stumbled upon the game, however, Quinn (2002) stated that her work was more exploratory than confirmatory, explaining why she continued exploring the idea of Girl Watching.<ref name="Quinn-2002b" /> At first, Quinn was researching the difference between what women and men see as sexual harassment. It was through the [[interview]]s (43) that she conducted that she noticed an occurrence of the game upon her interviews with men. As well as interviews Quinn (2002) [[Observation|observed]] the participants of her interviews and gathered more information regarding the game through said observations. She learned that men, usually when in a group, will watch the women around them and make comments towards them.<ref name="Quinn-2002b" />

Quinn (2002) found that men saw no problems with this and simply thought of it as a game that caused no harm to the women. According to Quinn, men are able to excuse sexual harassment, becomes it is not seen as such to them; men see it as a 'game' or 'playing'.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Kristin |last=Bumiller |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1058328198 |title=In an Abusive State : How Neoliberalism Appropriated the Feminist Movement against Sexual Violence. |date=2009 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-0-8223-8907-1 |oclc=1058328198 |access-date=2023-05-08 |archive-date=2024-05-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518022028/https://search.worldcat.org/title/1058328198 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Armstrong-2018">{{Cite journal |last1=Armstrong |first1=Elizabeth A. |last2=Gleckman-Krut |first2=Miriam |last3=Johnson |first3=Lanora |date=2018-07-30 |title=Silence, Power, and Inequality: An Intersectional Approach to Sexual Violence |journal=Annual Review of Sociology |language=en |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=99–122 |doi=10.1146/annurev-soc-073117-041410 |s2cid=150083345 |issn=0360-0572|doi-access=free }}</ref> Men, as well, use humor to sexually harass women. Through humor, men can make crude remarks, and if caught can claim that it was only a joke and that women need to loosen up. This results in the continuation of sexual harassment against women.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Deegan |first=Mary Jo |date=2014 |title=Goffman on Gender, Sexism, and Feminism: A Summary of Notes on a Conversation with Erving Goffman and My Reflections Then and Now |journal=Symbolic Interaction |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=71–86|doi=10.1002/symb.85 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Through instances like these, men sexually harassing women or their advances are encouraged, in turn forcing women to reject men politely, only resulting in more sexual advances from men.<ref name="Goffman-1977">{{Cite journal |last=Goffman |first=Erving |date=1977 |title=The arrangement between the sexes |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/BF00206983 |journal=Theory and Society |language=en |volume=4 |issue=3 |doi=10.1007/BF00206983 |s2cid=11045745 |issn=0304-2421 |access-date=2023-05-08 |archive-date=2024-05-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518022028/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00206983 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Armstrong-2018"/> Through Quinn (2002) asking men to imagine themselves as women, they unintentionally revealed the harm it causes women. The men began to claim they would make sure to dress appropriately and in ways to not draw the attention of other men so that they would not be targeted. It was this information that revealed the harm Girl Watching caused to women.<ref name="Quinn-2002a">{{Cite journal |last=Quinn |first=Beth A. |date=2002 |title=Sexual Harassment and Masculinity: The Power and Meaning of "Girl Watching" |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0891243202016003007 |journal=Gender & Society |language=en |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=386–402 |doi=10.1177/0891243202016003007 |s2cid=145230013 |issn=0891-2432 |access-date=2023-05-08 |archive-date=2024-05-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518022030/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0891243202016003007 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Quinn continued to learn more about men's feelings towards the game and its effect on women through her interviews. Quinn learned that it was fun for men until they got caught. If a woman looked towards the group that was watching her during their remarks or said something to them, it would make things awkward and no longer the fun game they were playing. This is because men were looking at women as objects and as soon as the women made notice of them or they got caught, they would become a subject objecting, ruining their game because she was no longer an object for their enjoyment.<ref name="Quinn-2002a" /> Women are seen as objects, with no feelings or thoughts, not as subjects.<ref>{{Citation |last=Schwalbe |first=Michael L. |title=Social structure and the moral self |date=1991-03-29 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511527722.015 |work=The Self-Society Dynamic |pages=281–304 |access-date=2023-05-01 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511527722.015 |isbn=9780521384339 |archive-date=2024-05-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518022033/https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/selfsociety-dynamic/social-structure-and-the-moral-self/3C854CD7905583DB3D0CC35484725576 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

This sexual harassment not only occurs because of men's attraction to women, but rather more as a power move. Similar to most cases of sexual harassment, men tend to harass as a way of staying in power.<ref name="Cassino-2019">{{Cite journal |last1=Cassino |first1=Dan |last2=Besen-Cassino |first2=Yasemin |date=2019 |title=Race, threat and workplace sexual harassment: The dynamics of harassment in the United States, 1997–2016 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gwao.12394 |journal=Gender, Work & Organization |language=en |volume=26 |issue=9 |pages=1221–1240 |doi=10.1111/gwao.12394 |s2cid=197738092 |issn=0968-6673|url-access=subscription }}</ref> When men feel threatened, they will resort to sexual harassment as a way of maintaining their power. Men also harass as a way of maintaining their masculinity, especially when they feel it is threatened.<ref name="Goffman-1977"/><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=West |first1=Candace |last2=Zimmerman |first2=Don H. |date=1987 |title=Doing Gender |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0891243287001002002 |journal=Gender & Society |language=en |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=125–151 |doi=10.1177/0891243287001002002 |s2cid=220519301 |issn=0891-2432 |access-date=2023-05-08 |archive-date=2023-03-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329160146/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0891243287001002002 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> When some men feel that their masculinity or their gender are threatened, they may resort to sexual harassment as a means of reinforcing their dominance and assuring themselves of their identity. Along with this, when men felt threatened, the likelihood of their participation in sexual harassing behaviors increased.<ref name="Cassino-2019" /> There is an unequal power balance between men and women, and this is a result of sexual harassment. This power balance being unequal is partly rooted in the sexual harassment of women by men with a view to the perpetuation of the latter's power.<ref name="Messner-2016">{{Cite journal |last=Messner |first=Michael A. |date=2016 |title=Bad Men, Good Men, Bystanders: Who Is the Rapist? |journal=Gender & Society |language=en |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=57–66 |doi=10.1177/0891243215608781 |s2cid=147250801 |issn=0891-2432|doi-access=free }}</ref>

=== In the military ===
{{Main|Sexual harassment in the military}}

Studies of sexual harassment have found that it is markedly more common in the [[military]] than in [[civilian]] settings.<ref name="British Army-2015">{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/446224/ADR005000-Sexual_Harassment_Report.pdf|title=Sexual harassment report 2015|last=British Army|year=2015|website=gov.uk|publisher=Ministry of Defence|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170309034706/https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/446224/ADR005000-Sexual_Harassment_Report.pdf|archive-date=2017-03-09|access-date=2018-03-08}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=February 2020}}<ref name="Anderson-2013">{{Cite book|title=Military psychologists' desk reference|last1=Anderson|first1=E H|last2=Suris|first2=A|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2013|isbn=9780199928262|editor-last=Moore|editor-first=Brett A|location=Oxford|pages=264–269|chapter=Military sexual trauma|oclc=828143812|editor-last2=Barnett|editor-first2=Jeffrey E. }}</ref> In 2018, an estimated 20,500 people in the US armed forces (about 13,000 women and 7,500 men) were assaulted, up from 14,900 in 2016.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.sapr.mil/sites/default/files/DoD_Annual_Report_on_Sexual_Assault_in_the_Military.pdf|title=Annual Report on Sexual Assault in the Military Fiscal Year 2018|publisher=Department of Defense Sexual Assault Prevention and Response|year=2019|pages=3|access-date=February 11, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200130180512/https://www.sapr.mil/sites/default/files/DoD_Annual_Report_on_Sexual_Assault_in_the_Military.pdf|archive-date=January 30, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> A Canadian study found that key risk factors associated with military settings are the typically young age of personnel, the 'isolated and integrated' nature of accommodation, the minority status of women, and the disproportionate number of men in senior positions.<ref name="Watkins-2018b">{{Cite web|url=https://cimvhr.ca/conference/mh-symposium/documents/presentations/5-Watkins.pdf|title=Sexual Assault in the Canadian Armed Forces: Prevalence, Circumstances, Correlates, and Mental Health Associations|last1=Watkins|first1=Kimberley|last2=Bennett|first2=Rachel|access-date=2018-03-08|last3=Richer|first3=Isabelle|last4=Zamorski|first4=Mark|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180308232031/https://cimvhr.ca/conference/mh-symposium/documents/presentations/5-Watkins.pdf|archive-date=2018-03-08|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Masculinity|traditionally masculine]] values and behaviors that are rewarded and reinforced in military settings, as well as their emphasis on [[conformity]] and obedience, are also thought to play a role.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Gallagher|first1=Kathryn E.|last2=Parrott|first2=Dominic J.|date=May 2011|title=What accounts for men's hostile attitudes toward women? The influence of hegemonic male role norms and masculine gender role stress|journal=Violence Against Women|volume=17|issue=5|pages=568–583|doi=10.1177/1077801211407296 |pmc = 3143459 |pmid = 21531691 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Parrott|first1=Dominic J.|last2=Zeichner|first2=Amos|title=Effects of hypermasculinity oh physical aggression against women.|journal=Psychology of Men & Masculinity|language=en|volume=4|issue=1|pages=70–78|doi=10.1037/1524-9220.4.1.70|year=2003|s2cid=145121461}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Rosen |display-authors=etal|first=Leora N|date=September 2003|title=The Effects of Peer Group Climate on Intimate Partner Violence among Married Male U.S. Army Soldiers|journal=Violence Against Women|volume=9|issue=9|pages=1045–1071|doi=10.1177/1077801203255504|s2cid=145571984}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Baugher|first1=Amy R.|last2=Gazmararian|first2=Julie A.|title=Masculine gender role stress and violence: A literature review and future directions|journal=Aggression and Violent Behavior|volume=24|pages=107–112|doi=10.1016/j.avb.2015.04.002|year=2015}}</ref><ref name="Deschamps-2015" /> Canadian research has also found that the risk increases during deployment on [[military operation]]s.<ref name="Watkins-2018a">{{cite web|url=https://cimvhr.ca/conference/mh-symposium/documents/presentations/5-Watkins.pdf|title=Sexual Assault in the Canadian Armed Forces: Prevalence, Circumstances, Correlates, and Mental Health Associations|last1=Watkins|first1=Kimberley|last2=Bennett|first2=Rachel|access-date=2018-03-08|last3=Richer|first3=Isabelle|last4=Zamorski|first4=Mark|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180308232031/https://cimvhr.ca/conference/mh-symposium/documents/presentations/5-Watkins.pdf|archive-date=2018-03-08|url-status=live}}</ref>

While some male military personnel are sexually harassed, women are substantially more likely to be affected.<ref name="British Army-2015" /><ref name="Watkins-2018a" /><ref name="Leila-2014">{{cite book |title=La guerre invisible: révélations sur les violences sexuelles dans l'armée française |last1=Leila|first1=Miñano|last2=Pascual|first2=Julia|publisher=Les Arènes |year=2014|isbn=978-2352043027|location=Paris |language=fr|oclc = 871236655 }}</ref><ref name="US DOD-2017">{{cite web|url=http://sapr.mil/public/docs/reports/FY16_Annual/FY16_SAPRO_Annual_Report.pdf|title=Department of Defense Annual Report on Sexual Assault in the Military: Fiscal Year 2016|last=US, Department of Defense|year=2017|access-date=2018-03-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190508115225/https://sapr.mil/public/docs/reports/FY16_Annual/FY16_SAPRO_Annual_Report.pdf|archive-date=2019-05-08|url-status=dead}}</ref> Women who are younger and joined the military at a younger age face a greater risk, according to American, British and French research.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.apha.org/policies-and-advocacy/public-health-policy-statements/policy-database/2014/07/23/11/19/cessation-of-military-recruiting-in-public-elementary-and-secondary-schools|title=Cessation of Military Recruiting in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools|last=American Public Health Association|date=2013-10-30|website=www.apha.org|access-date=2018-03-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171213204348/https://www.apha.org/policies-and-advocacy/public-health-policy-statements/policy-database/2014/07/23/11/19/cessation-of-military-recruiting-in-public-elementary-and-secondary-schools|archive-date=2017-12-13|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Rutherford-2006">{{cite web |url = http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/538E55EE-9CA4-4177-9A0B-6853A431B283/0/20060522SRReport.pdf |title=Quantitative & qualitative research into sexual harassment in the armed forces |last1=Rutherford|first1=Sarah|last2=Schneider|first2=Robin |last3=Walmsley|first3=Alexis |year=2006|archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20121018171845/http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/538E55EE-9CA4-4177-9A0B-6853A431B283/0/20060522SRReport.pdf|archive-date=2012-10-18|url-status = dead|access-date=2018-03-08 }}</ref><ref name="Lichfield-2014">{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/france-battles-sexual-abuse-in-the-military-9271383.html|title=France battles sexual abuse in the military|last=Lichfield|first=John|date=2014-04-20|work=Independent|access-date=2018-03-08|language=en-GB|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180308234637/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/france-battles-sexual-abuse-in-the-military-9271383.html|archive-date=2018-03-08|url-status=live}}</ref>

Child recruits (under the age of 18) and children in cadet forces also face an elevated risk. In the UK, for example, hundreds of complaints of the sexual abuse of cadets have been recorded since 2012.<ref name="Razzall-2017">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40457123|title=Sex abuse against cadets 'covered up'|last1=Razzall|first1=Katie|date=2017-07-04|work=BBC News|access-date=2018-03-09|last2=MacSorley|first2=Jane|language=en-GB|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180511151936/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40457123|archive-date=2018-05-11|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Quinn-2014">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/dec/28/ministry-of-defence-pays-out-2m-settle-cadets-sexual-abuse-claims|title=Ministry of Defence pays out £2m to settle cadets' sexual abuse claims|last=Quinn|first=Ben|date=2014-12-28|work=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-03-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180122125442/https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/dec/28/ministry-of-defence-pays-out-2m-settle-cadets-sexual-abuse-claims|archive-date=2018-01-22|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Rawlinson-2017">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jul/04/mod-admits-over-350-sexual-abuse-complaints-have-been-made-by-cadets|title=MoD admits over 350 sexual abuse complaints have been made by cadets|last=Rawlinson|first=Kevin|date=2017-07-04|work=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-03-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180310010633/https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jul/04/mod-admits-over-350-sexual-abuse-complaints-have-been-made-by-cadets|archive-date=2018-03-10|url-status=live}}</ref> In Canada, one in ten complaints of sexual assault in military settings are from child cadets or their parents.<ref name="Razzall-2017" /><ref name="Quinn-2014" /><ref name="Rawlinson-2017" /><ref>{{Cite news|last=Ling|first=Justin|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/canadian-military-cadet-program-has-a-sexual-assault-problem-documents-show-674/|title=Documents Show the Canadian Army Cadets Program Is Plagued With Sexual Abuse Allegations|date=2014-11-26|work=Vice|access-date=2018-03-10|url-status=live|language=en-ca|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180311141145/https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/xdm7kn/canadian-military-cadet-program-has-a-sexual-assault-problem-documents-show-674|archive-date=2018-03-11}}</ref><ref name="Mercier-2014">{{Cite news|url=http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/our-militarys-disgrace/|title=Our military's disgrace|last1=Mercier|first1=Noémi|date=2014-05-16|work=Maclean's|access-date=2018-03-10|last2=Castonguay|first2=Alec|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140516222347/http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/our-militarys-disgrace/|archive-date=2014-05-16|url-status=live}}</ref>

Individuals detained by the military are also vulnerable to sexual harassment. During the [[Iraq War]], for example, personnel of the [[United States Army|US army]] and [[Central Intelligence Agency|US Central Intelligence Agency]] committed a number of [[human rights violations]] against detainees in the [[Abu Ghraib prison]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.salon.com/news/abu_ghraib/2006/03/14/chapter_5/index.html|title=Chapter 5: Nov. 4–5, 2003 "Other government agencies"|last1=Scherer|first1=Michael|last2=Benjamin|first2=Mark|date=March 14, 2006|editor-last=Walsh|editor-first=Joan|work=Salon.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080212035108/http://www.salon.com/news/abu_ghraib/2006/03/14/chapter_5/index.html|archive-date=February 12, 2008|access-date=April 3, 2012|df=mdy}}</ref> including [[rape]], [[sodomy]], and other forms of sexual abuse.<ref name="New Yorker 2004-05-17">{{cite news|last=Hersh|first=Seymour M.|url=http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/05/17/040517fa_fact2?currentPage=all|title=Chain of Command|date=May 10, 2004|magazine=The New Yorker|access-date=September 13, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120101055751/http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/05/17/040517fa_fact2?currentPage=all|archive-date=January 1, 2012|quote=NBC News later quoted U.S. military officials as saying that the unreleased photographs showed American soldiers "severely beating an Iraqi prisoner nearly to death, having sex with a female Iraqi prisoner, and 'acting inappropriately with a dead body.' The officials said there also was a videotape, apparently shot by U.S. personnel, showing Iraqi guards raping young boys."|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref name="Benjamin2009">{{cite news|last=Benjamin|first=Mark|url=http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/05/30/taguba/|title=Taguba denies he's seen abuse photos suppressed by Obama|date=May 30, 2008|work=Salon.com|access-date=June 6, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090611145722/http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/05/30/taguba/|archive-date=June 11, 2009|quote=The paper quoted Taguba as saying, "These pictures show torture, abuse, rape and every indecency." [...] The actual quote in the Telegraph was accurate, Taguba said – but he was referring to the hundreds of images he reviewed as an investigator of the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq}}</ref><ref name="hersh2007">{{cite news |url=http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/06/25/070625fa_fact_hersh?printable=true|title=The general's report: how Antonio Taguba, who investigated the Abu Ghraib scandal, became one of its casualties.|last=Hersh|first=Seymour Myron|date=June 25, 2007 |magazine=The New Yorker|access-date=June 17, 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070912104000/http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/06/25/070625fa_fact_hersh?printable=true |archive-date=September 12, 2007 |url-status = live |quote=Taguba said that he saw "a video of a male American soldier in uniform sodomizing a female detainee"|author-link=Seymour Hersh|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

Although the risk of sexual misconduct in the armed forces is widely acknowledged, personnel are frequently reluctant to report incidents, typically out of fear of reprisals, according to research in Australia, Canada, France, the UK, and the US.<ref name="British Army-2015" /><ref name="Deschamps-2015">{{Cite web|url=http://www.forces.gc.ca/assets/FORCES_Internet/docs/en/caf-community-support-services-harassment/era-final-report-(april-20-2015)-eng.pdf|title=External Review into Sexual Misconduct and Sexual Harassment in the Canadian Armed Forces|last=Deschamps|first=Marie|date=2015|website=forces.gc.ca|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180308232139/http://www.forces.gc.ca/assets/FORCES_Internet/docs/en/caf-community-support-services-harassment/era-final-report-(april-20-2015)-eng.pdf|archive-date=March 8, 2018|access-date=2018-03-08}}</ref><ref name="Leila-2014" /><ref name="Rutherford-2006" /><ref name="Lichfield-2014" /><ref name="Cornall-2016">{{Cite web|url=https://www.defenceabusetaskforce.gov.au/Reports/Documents/Dart-final-report-2016.pdf|title=Defence Abuse Response Taskforce: Final report|last=Defence Abuse Response Taskforce|date=March 2016|publisher=Australian Government|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180313191521/https://www.defenceabusetaskforce.gov.au/Reports/Documents/Dart-final-report-2016.pdf|archive-date=13 March 2018|access-date=2018-03-08}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Moon Cronk|first=Terri|url=http://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/News/Article/Article/1168765/dod-releases-latest-military-sexual-assault-report/|title=DoD Releases Latest Military Sexual Assault Report|date=2017-05-01|work=DOD News|access-date=2018-03-09|url-status=live|publisher=US Department of Defence|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180309182920/https://www.defense.gov/News/Article/Article/1168765/dod-releases-latest-military-sexual-assault-report/|archive-date=2018-03-09}}</ref>

Women affected by sexual harassment are more likely than other women to suffer [[Stress (biology)|stress]]-related [[Mental disorder|mental illness]] afterwards.<ref name="Watkins-2018b" /> Research in the US found that when [[sexual abuse]] of female military personnel is [[Psychological trauma|psychiatrically traumatic]], the odds of suffering from [[Posttraumatic stress disorder|post-traumatic stress disorder]] (PTSD) after deployment on operations increase by a factor of nine.<ref name="Anderson-2013" />

== Measurement ==

Despite the prevalence of sexual harassment as a global issue, a large gap remains in research done on its measurement. The need for a robust and reliable measurement method to study and express the frequency of sexual harassment is higher than ever. It is important to have well-grounded results from surveys and other methods to learn how to educate, treat, and prevent the occurrence of sexual harassment. Providing empirical evidence on sexual harassment enforces its status as a widespread issue rather than an issue of the individual.{{Editorializing|date=May 2023}}

=== Research design ===

==== Sampling techniques ====
Sampling techniques are important to all types of research. The sampling matters because it affects the generalizability of the results and how they can used to better understand sexual harassment.{{Editorializing|date=May 2023}} Two methods of sampling include probability sampling and non-probability sampling which both provide different strengths and weaknesses to the study.<ref name="Gillespie-1987">{{Cite journal |last1=Gillespie |first1=Dair L. |last2=Leffler |first2=Ann |date=December 1987 |title=The Politics of Research Methodology in Claims-Making Activities: Social Science and Sexual Harassment |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/800543 |journal=Social Problems |volume=34 |issue=5 |pages=490–501 |doi=10.2307/800543 |jstor=800543 |issn=0037-7791 |access-date=2023-05-02 |archive-date=2024-05-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518022034/https://academic.oup.com/socpro/article-abstract/34/5/490/1666015?redirectedFrom=fulltext |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Probability sampling involves taking a sample from a subset of the population using random selection. The random selection used in probability sampling is key to making the results generalizable to the population that is being studied, which makes it more used than other nonrandom methods.<ref name="Gillespie-1987" /> Although the use of probability sampling has its perks, the data may not be representative or generalizable because the research is limited to certain contexts/environments. Sampling just people in a particular environment makes the results only applicable to that environment. For example, the results from a study of sexual harassment done in an office space in China cannot apply to the occurrence of sexual harassment at an American university.<ref name="Gillespie-1987" /> Similarly, if the sample being used is too small it cannot apply and be generalized to the larger population.

Despite its potential for bias, non-probability sampling may be used in cases where the research lacks funding or the number of participants available to sample from is small.<ref name="Gillespie-1987" /> The selection of participants in non-probability sampling is nonrandom and is often the most convenient. Many of the early studies of sexual harassment such the survey by Working Women's Institute (1975) and the Redbook Survey; have relied on connivence/non-probability sampling to conduct their research.<ref name="Gillespie-1987" /> The sampling was often done at conventions, meetings, or sent out in letters or magazines.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

===== Importance of wording =====
In every study used to measure sexual harassment, the wording of questions, introductions, definitions and other parts of the survey or interview can impact the responses. Language can be used in many ways to get certain responses from the participants.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

Work done by Psychologist Mary Koss describes a problem in wording used to ask participants about sexual violence and how this can impact the results and assumption of prevalence.<ref name="Armstrong-2018"/> Koss explained the problem with other estimation methods was that the prevalence of sexual violence was skewed because the beliefs of the people being asked were that nonconsensual heterosexual sex was normative.<ref name="Armstrong-2018" /> Many sociologists believe that heterosexual relationships often involve nonconsensual sex that has been normalized because of the roles men and women fill in society. Men are dominant and aggressive, and women submit to their advances. This normality around nonconsensual heterosexual sex causes the spread of rape myths and the misrepresentation of rape prevalence in society.<ref name="Armstrong-2018" /> To combat this bias, Koss created a new instrument used neutral wording in her questions to dig deeper into their experiences with nonconsensual sex.<ref name="Armstrong-2018" /> She focused on women college students and found the prevalence of rape was much higher than was being reported. Koss' work displayed the importance of wording in surveys and her work received a lot of attention both good and bad.<ref name="Armstrong-2018" />

=== History ===
Past measurement methods relied on simple checklists of what was considered sexual harassment, but these lacked reliability and validity which made results invalid and non-generalizable.<ref name="Fitzgerald-1995">{{Cite journal |last1=Fitzgerald |first1=Louise F. |last2=Gelfand |first2=Michele J. |last3=Drasgow |first3=Fritz |date=December 1995 |title=Measuring Sexual Harassment: Theoretical and Psychometric Advances |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1207/s15324834basp1704_2 |journal=Basic and Applied Social Psychology |language=en |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=425–445 |doi=10.1207/s15324834basp1704_2 |issn=0197-3533 |access-date=2023-05-02 |archive-date=2024-05-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518022531/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15324834basp1704_2 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> These past methods left many unanswered questions on how to measure sexual harassment in the best way.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

The first attempt at creating a way to classify and measure sexual harassment was created in 1980. Before there was a legal framework to follow, Till (1980) created a system based on a sample of college women, that classified different sexual harassment behaviors into five categories: Gender harassment, seductive behavior, sexual bribery, sexual coercion, sexual imposition, or assault.<ref name="Fitzgerald-1995" />

Later in 1992, Gruber created another classification system that included 11 specific types of harassment organized into three categories in decreasing order of severity. The three categories were verbal requests, verbal remarks, nonverbal displays.<ref name="Fitzgerald-1995" />

==== Early surveys ====
These early surveys lacked scientific methods of sampling, but they clearly demonstrated the prevalence of sexual harassment and were cited to prove the importance of sexual harassment as a social issue.<ref name="Baker-2007">{{Cite book |last=Baker |first=Carrie N. |title=The Women's Movement against Sexual Harassment |date=2007-12-03 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-87935-4}}</ref>

===== Working Women's United (WWU) =====
Working Women's United (WWU) created one of the first studies to measure sexual harassment. The survey was given out during a speak out event designed to ask women about their experiences with sexual harassment. 155 women responded to the survey and 7 out 10 experienced sexual harassment. The respondents' occupations ranged from teacher to factory worker. This helped them conclude that sexual harassment was happening in all workplaces. Although this survey was not scientific, it was the first of its kind and inspired may other organizations and researchers to conduct studies of their own.<ref name="Baker-2007" />

===== Working Office Workers (WOW) =====
Women Office Workers (WOW) created a survey in 1975 that surveyed 15,000 women about their experiences and feelings about their workplace including the prevalence of sexual harassment. 1/3 of the respondents reported that they had experienced "direct sexual harassment".<ref name="Baker-2007" />

===== Redbook Survey =====
In 1975, the Redbook Survey was created and was used to survey women on a naval base on their experiences with sexual harassment. A survey was included in an issue of the Redbook magazine gathered data from 9,000 respondents. 81% of respondents reported they had experienced sexual harassment. This survey was then used again in other environments to test the prevalence of sexual harassment, proving its high external validity.<ref name="Baker-2007" />

===== US Merit System Protection Board (USMSPB) =====
From 1981 to 1987, The US Merit System Protection Board (USMSPB) created another classification system and data collection method.<ref name="Fitzgerald-1995" /> The Office of Merit Systems Review and Studies (MSPBs) created this scientific survey to measure sexual harassment in the federal workplace in response to the many questions people were posing around workplace sexual harassment. The survey was created after reviewing past research, cases of sexual harassment, and by working with community members,  academic researchers and federal officials.<ref name="Alexanderstreet-2023">{{Cite web |title=Document 36: U.S. Office of Merit Systems Review and Studies, Sexual Harassment in the Federal Workplace: Is I... {{!}} Alexander Street Documents |url=https://documents.alexanderstreet.com/d/1000670042 |access-date=2023-04-12 |website=documents.alexanderstreet.com |archive-date=2021-12-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211203154709/https://documents.alexanderstreet.com/d/1000670042 |url-status=live }}</ref>  After revisions and testing, the final survey was created. They tested the survey on a stratified random sample from employees in the executive branch from a different sexes, minorities, salaries, and organizations.<ref name="Alexanderstreet-2023" /> The survey was conducted from May 1978 – May 1980. In this model, seven harassing behaviors were classified into three levels of severity: less severe, moderately severe, and most severe.<ref name="Fitzgerald-1995" /> Examples of these levels were: less severe: unwelcome sexual remarks, suggestive looks and gestures, and deliberate touching, moderately severe: pressure for dates, pressure for sexual favors, and unwelcome letters and telephone calls, and most severe: actual or attempted rape or sexual assault.<ref name="Alexanderstreet-2023" /> This data collection method requires participants to indicate if they had experienced the behavior described. They found that 42% of women and 15% of men had experienced and reported sexual harassment in the workplace.<ref name="Alexanderstreet-2023" /> They also received more details information on who was more likely to report/experience sexual harassment and what types of harassment were taking place. They also observed the consequences of harassment which was mostly reported as victims leaving their jobs. Overall, concluded that harassment in widespread, has negative consequences, and impacts a variety of victims. This method has been critiqued because it ignores the need for reliability and validity of its measures.<ref name="Alexanderstreet-2023" />

===== Uniform Crime Report (UCR) =====
The Uniform Crime Report (UCR) served as the basis for reaching statistics on the prevalence of rape against women in the 1980s.<ref name="Fisher-2004">{{Cite journal |last=Fisher |first=Bonnie |date=2004 |title=Violence Against Women and Family Violence: Developments in Research, Practice, and Policy |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/e532602006-001 |access-date=2023-04-24 |website=PsycEXTRA Dataset |doi=10.1037/e532602006-001 |archive-date=2024-05-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518022546/https://psycnet.apa.org/buy/PE |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Although this survey were useful, it was often criticized for underestimating the true prevalence of rape. Critics argued that one of the main issues with the UCR was that it relied on reported crimes for its reports of prevalence, but many rapes are not reported or are mishandled which skews the data.<ref name="Fisher-2004" />

===== Sexual Experiences Questionnaire (SEQ) =====
Developed by Fitzgerald et al. in 1988, the Sexual Experiences Questionnaire (SEQ), was the first attempt to study the prevalence of sexual harassment in a scientific manner.<ref name="Fitzgerald-1995" /> The SEQ used self-reporting and required participants to respond with the answer that they felt best described their experience. They picked from three options on a scale measure: never, once, and more than once.<ref name="Fitzgerald-1995" /> The scenarios were only listed in behavior terms, and they did not use the word sexual harassment until the end to avoid confounding variables of self-labeling. The survey resulted in frequencies and percentages used in statistical analyses. The test was retested multiple times and produced reliable and valid results. The SEQ is very widely used in a variety of environments and cultures. The SEQ is often cited as the best instrument of measurement available. Example questions included: Have you ever been in a situation where a supervisor or coworker habitually told suggestive stories or offensive jokes?.<ref name="Fitzgerald-1995" /> Despite the high praise for the SEQ, there are also several critiques on its design. For example, the wording of the questions causes skewed answers, and the scoring method can only produce frequency distributions.<ref name="Fitzgerald-1995" />

===== SEQ-W (1995) =====
Fitzgerald et al. (1995), created and tested the SEQ-W, an updated version of the SEQ considering the critiques. Their framework consists of three dimensions: sexual coercion, unwanted sexual attention, and gender harassment.<ref name="Fitzgerald-1995" /> They defined gender harassment as behaviors, both verbal and nonverbal that project/express violent and insulting feelings about women. Examples of this include gestures, taunts, hazing, threats, sexual slurs, etc. Gender harassment is the most widespread form of harassment but its typically ignored because it is not seen as big of an issue as other forms of sexual harassment. Sexual coercion includes the exchange of sexual acts/favors for job related benefits (quid pro quo). This model was tested on different samples of women from a variety of occupations, education levels, and cultures. After testing, the model was found to be structurally valid across different settings and cultures. The model was reported as reliable, efficient, valid, and practical.<ref name="Fitzgerald-1995" />

===== Sexual Experiences Survey (SES) =====
In an attempt to go beyond the past methods and create a more accurate representation of the occurrence of rape and other sexual victimizations, Koss and colleagues developed a new measurement tool called the Sexual Experiences Survey (SES).<ref name="Fisher-2004" /> The SES included a legal definition of rape, accounted for other experiences of sexual harassment/assault and used graphic language and "behaviorally specific" questions to cue the victims recall.<ref name="Fisher-2004" />

The SES and its first testing caused a large increase in the research done on rape. Despite its strengths, the SES was critiqued for using broad and "poorly phrased" definitions and question.<ref name="Fisher-2004" /> They argued that the language used caused women report that they had experienced a form of sexual harassment but not been raped. These critics concluded that the SES overestimates rape.<ref name="Fisher-2004" />

In 1992, the SES went through a redesign and a new name. The now called National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) built on the critiques from the past survey and built a brand-new methodological tool.<ref name="Fisher-2004" />

===== Nationwide Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) =====
The Nationwide Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) annually conducts research and reports information about different types of criminal victimization such as robbery, theft, household burglary and sexual victimization.<ref name="Campus Sexual Assault-2018">{{Citation |title=Sexual Assault and Affirmative Consent |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/9781108671255.007 |work=Campus Sexual Assault |year=2018 |pages=141–162 |access-date=2023-04-26 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/9781108671255.007 |isbn=9781108671255 |archive-date=2024-05-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518022556/https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/campus-sexual-assault/sexual-assault-and-affirmative-consent/4EA739424F1D3E7755868FD4F75AA26A |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> The NCVS has been conducted since 1973 and uses the same methods as when it was created which makes it the only source to compare the prevalence of sexual harassment across time.<ref name="Campus Sexual Assault-2018" />

To investigate this claim of underestimation of rape, the National Research Council held a panel to review and identify the errors within the NCVS.<ref name="Campus Sexual Assault-2018" /> The conclusion from this panel was that the NCVS had several methodological problems that caused this underestimation of rape and sexual assault.<ref name="Campus Sexual Assault-2018" />

One of the main issues with NCVS was that using language that is focused on crime and victimization which caused respondents to answer different ways. Whether respondents did not want to label their experiences as rape or if they feared that their perpetrator was going to be punished the use of language was leading to inaccurate results.<ref name="Campus Sexual Assault-2018" /> Additionally, the NCVS fails to protect the privacy of its participants. The interviewer has to ask one of the questions to everyone 12 and older in a certain house.  This causes everyone asked in that area aware of the others' participation and what questions everyone is being asked.<ref name="Campus Sexual Assault-2018" /> This risk of lack of privacy could lead respondents to not answer honestly, or answer in a socially desirable way. Finally, the NCVS has limited definitions of rape that lead to confusion and ambiguity.<ref name="Campus Sexual Assault-2018" />

=== College sexual harassment surveys ===
{{See also|Campus sexual assault}}

==== National College Women Sexual Victimization Survey (NCVS) vs National Violence Against Women Survey (NVAW) ====
Two of the widely used surveys, the NCVS and the NVAW can be compared to examine the strengths and weakness of each and how this impacts their results.The sample used for the National College Women Sexual Victimization Survey was made of 233 higher education institutions (194 four-year institutions and 39 two-year institutions) in the United States with 1,000 students or more.<ref name="Fisher-2004" /> The sampling method used was a stratified sampling method to pick institutions and then a random sample was taken of students. The sample size who took the survey was 4,446 students. The National Violence Against Women Survey used the same sampling method but had slightly different sample numbers. The title of the surveys and the survey description were different.<ref name="Fisher-2004" /> The NCVS named their survey "The Extent and Nature of Sexual Victimization of College Women" and the NVAW named it "Victimization Among College Women".<ref name="Fisher-2004" />

The methods used were also similar, such as that both the surveys were given by professionally trained women interviewers. The interviews were completed using a computer assisted telephone interviewing system (CATI).<ref name="Fisher-2004" /> The average interview time was longer for the NCVS than the NVAW (25.9 minutes vs 12.7 minutes).<ref name="Fisher-2004" /> They both had similar response rates, but the NVAW had a higher response rate oof 91.6% compared the NCVS rate of 85.6%.<ref name="Fisher-2004" />

The surveys gave the same introduction to the interview with the same wording:

"As you may recall, the purpose of the study is to better understand the extent and nature of criminal victimization among college women. Regardless of whether or not you have ever personally been victimized, your answers will help us to understand and deal with the problem of victimizations at your campus and nationally.<ref name="Fisher-2004" />"

The two surveys used different definitions of completed rape, attempted rape, and threat of rape. The NCVS used a broader definition of completed rape that included other instances other than just penile vaginal penetration, whereas the NVAW used a more objective and narrow definition.<ref name="Fisher-2004" /> Attempted rape and threat of rape was defined by the NVAW more broadly and included the element of psychological coercion as an element of force.<ref name="Fisher-2004" />

The two surveys first had the women answer the survey questions to determine if they had experienced an incident of victimization, then if they had they would fill out an incident report to determine the nature of victimization.<ref name="Fisher-2004" />

The estimates of rape were statistically lower for the NVAW study than the estimates from the NSCVS.<ref name="Fisher-2004" /> The difference in estimation is due to the use of wide definition and behaviorally specific questions used in the NSCVS.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

The differences in these methods displays the important implications of measurement methods such as the importance of the wording of questions and language used in introductions or interviews because this can influence responses.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

==== National College Women Sexual Victimization Survey (NCWSV) ====
Through an experiment, Bonnie Fisher, and colleagues (1996) created the NCWSV to compare the wording of questions to see how the results from the NCVS would compare to the NCWSV. The NCWSV questions included behavioral specific questions rather than questions centered around confusing terminology that was not clearly defined. Specifically, the NCVS does not ask about rape occurring when incapacitated (due to drugs or alcohol). The results of this study were shocking because they found that the wording used in the NCVS caught less than 10% of the incidents of rape that the NCWSV did. These results lead to suggestions that the NCVS needed to be reworked or a new survey needed to be created to accurately measure sexual assault.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

==== Online College Social Life Survey (OCSLS) ====
The Online College Social Life Survey, used from 2005 to 2011, asked questions about incapacitated and attempted rape. The respondents were asked to answer these questions: "Since you started college, has someone tried to physically force you to have sexual intercourse, but you got out of the situation without having intercourse?" and "Since you started college, has someone had sexual intercourse with you that you did not want when you were drunk, passed out, asleep, drugged, or otherwise incapacitated?".<ref name="Campus Sexual Assault-2018" /> This survey resulted in small estimations of rape. The reason for this underestimation is that they did not ask questions that would include unwanted touching/grabbing or psychological coercion.<ref name="Campus Sexual Assault-2018" /> Other college surveys such as the Campus Sexual Assault (CSA) survey, created in 2007, had limited samples, only drawing responses few universities making data inapplicable to most of the female college population.<ref name="Campus Sexual Assault-2018" />

==== Self Labeling, Latent Class Cluster (LCC), and Behavioral Experiences ====
A study done by Nielsen et al. (2010), tested three different estimation/measurement methods to investigate the strengths and weaknesses of different methods of measurement.<ref name="Nielsen-2010">{{Cite journal |last1=Nielsen |first1=Morten Birkeland |last2=Bjørkelo |first2=Brita |last3=Notelaers |first3=Guy |last4=Einarsen |first4=Ståle |date=2010-04-19 |title=Sexual Harassment: Prevalence, Outcomes, and Gender Differences Assessed by Three Different Estimation Methods |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10926771003705056 |journal=Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma |language=en |volume=19 |issue=3 |pages=252–274 |doi=10.1080/10926771003705056 |s2cid=145338999 |issn=1092-6771 |access-date=2022-04-15 |archive-date=2022-11-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221122190354/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10926771003705056 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Current research methods are often criticized for having faulty research design that impacts the validity of the results. The results are often biased due to variations in the operational definitions and the lack of representative samples. The article expresses the importance of accurate measurement methods because the conclusions taken from these studies are used to make judgements for prevention and treatment of sexual harassment. The three methods of surveying tested were Self labeling, Latent Class Cluster (LCC) modeling and behavioral experiences.<ref name="Nielsen-2010" />

* '''Self Labeling'''
** Self-labeling is a good method because it is easy to administer and does not take up a lot of space on the survey. But it does not provide details on the nature of their experiences or how frequent the experience is. Self-labeling is also very subjective because it forces the participant to define sexual harassment themselves and that definition may differ based on the individual. Finally, self-labeling might make some participants feel threatened to admit that they are victims/label themselves.<ref name="Nielsen-2010" />
* '''Latent Class Cluster (LCC)'''
** Latent Class Cluster (LCC) is beneficial because it creates several different groups based on the nature and frequency of the respondents' experiences rather than creating just two groups of respondents (harassed or non-harassed). It also shows stronger predictive validity.<ref name="Nielsen-2010" />
* '''Behavioral Experiences'''
** Behavioral experiences method is effective because its more objective and does not make them label their experiences.<ref name="Nielsen-2010" /> They suggest that the best measurement method is a combination of the LCC and behavioral experience approach.<ref name="Nielsen-2010" />

==== Bergen Sexual Harassment Scale (BSHS) ====
The Bergen Sexual Harassment Scale (BSHS) consists of two parts. The first part measures exposure to sexual harassment by asking participants to respond to 11 items categorized into different types of sexual harassment: unwanted verbal sexual attention, unwanted physical sexual behaviors, and sexual pressure.<ref name="Nielsen-2010" /> The second part asks participants to indicate if they believe they had been exposed to sexual harassment at work in the time. They answered it with (no, yes to a certain extent, or yes to a large extent). They were not given a definition of sexual harassment when doing part two.<ref name="Nielsen-2010" />

==== Computer Based Interaction Model ====
A new measure created by Maass and colleagues using a computer-based model that measures gender harassment through behavior. Male participants are told they are interacting with a female partner through the computer.<ref name="Grabowski-2022">{{Cite journal |last1=Grabowski |first1=Matthew |last2=Dinh |first2=Tuyen K. |last3=Wu |first3=Wei |last4=Stockdale |first4=Margaret S. |date=June 2022 |title=The Sex-Based Harassment Inventory: A Gender Status Threat Measure of Sex-Based Harassment Intentions |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11199-022-01294-1 |journal=Sex Roles |language=en |volume=86 |issue=11–12 |pages=648–666 |doi=10.1007/s11199-022-01294-1 |hdl=1805/29232 |s2cid=249142296 |issn=0360-0025 |hdl-access=free |access-date=2023-05-02 |archive-date=2024-05-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518022535/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-022-01294-1 |url-status=live }}</ref> They want to see if the participants will send harassing content/messages to the partner (computer). They found that men were more likely to harass their partner if the partner threatened the males standing in gender hierarchy/masculinity (example: partner identifies as feminist). This article presents an alternative measure than other studies.<ref name="Grabowski-2022" /> This article forces the male participants to imagine themselves in scenarios and answer on what behavior they would most likely do. They were attempting to determine if men were more likely to harass a female coworker if that coworker was threatening their masculinity.<ref name="Grabowski-2022" />

== Prevention ==
[[File:US Army SHARP Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault Prevention Poster.jpg|thumb|Poster created by the [[U.S. Army]]'s [[Sexual Harassment/Assault Response & Prevention]] (SHARP)]]
Sexual harassment is a longstanding and ubiquitous social issue, but it is often normalized, left unacknowledged, and even trivialized.<ref name=":8">{{Cite journal |last1=Jenner |first1=Sabine C. |last2=Djermester |first2=Pia |last3=Oertelt-Prigione |first3=Sabine |date=2022 |title=Prevention Strategies for Sexual Harassment in Academic Medicine: A Qualitative Study |url=https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260520903130 |journal=Journal of Interpersonal Violence |volume=37 |issue=5–6 |pages=2504–2508 |doi=10.1177/0886260520903130 |pmid=31999215 |pmc=8921881 |via=Sage Journals}}</ref><ref name=":9">{{Cite journal |last1=Bondestam |first1=Fredrik |last2=Lundqvist |first2=Maja |date=2020-10-01 |title=Sexual harassment in higher education – a systematic review |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21568235.2020.1729833 |journal=European Journal of Higher Education |volume=10 |issue=4 |pages=397–419 |doi=10.1080/21568235.2020.1729833 |issn=2156-8235|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Thompson |first=Deborah M. |date=1994 |title=The woman in the street: Reclaiming the public space from sexual harassment |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/yjfem6&div=14&id=&page= |journal=Yale Journal of Law and Feminism |volume=6 |pages=313–348 |via=Hein Online}}</ref> Certain settings make harassment more likely, making it an institutional and societal problem that can be solved by changes at the organizational and cultural level. However, many attempted institutional interventions are not motivated by an understanding of how harassment works, and are instead chosen because they are simple or they fit a legal minimum standard.<ref name=":10">{{Cite journal |last1=Clancy |first1=Kathryn B. H. |last2=Cortina |first2=Lilia M. |last3=Kirkland |first3=Anna R. |date=2020-09-15 |title=Use science to stop sexual harassment in higher education |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=117 |issue=37 |pages=22614–22618 |doi=10.1073/pnas.2016164117 |doi-access=free |pmc=7502731 |pmid=32817430|bibcode=2020PNAS..11722614C }}</ref><ref name=":11">{{Cite news |last1=Dobbin |first1=Frank |last2=Kalev |first2=Alexandra |date=2020-05-01 |title=Why Sexual Harassment Programs Backfire |url=https://hbr.org/2020/05/why-sexual-harassment-programs-backfire |access-date=2025-02-16 |work=Harvard Business Review |language=en |issn=0017-8012}}</ref> This has resulted in a wide range of intervention styles and research on their effectiveness, with changing and sometimes conflicting conclusions.<ref name=":12">{{Cite journal |last1=Quick |first1=James Campbell |last2=McFadyen |first2=M. Ann |date=2017 |title=Sexual harassment: Have we made any progress? |url=https://doi.apa.org/doi/10.1037/ocp0000054 |journal=Journal of Occupational Health Psychology |language=en |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=286–298 |doi=10.1037/ocp0000054 |pmid=27732009 |issn=1939-1307 |via=ResearchGate}}</ref>

=== Organizational changes ===
Harassment in large organizations like workplaces or schools can be predicted by certain aspects of the organization: if these change, the amount of harassment can change.<ref name=":9" /> The first step to decreasing organizational harassment is talking about it, acknowledging how large of a problem it is and signalling a willingness to find real solutions.<ref name=":8" />[[File:A photo about sexual harassment.jpg|thumb|A sexual harassment prevention poster.]]Organizational tolerance for sexual harassment is a large factor in enabling harassment. If leadership is vocal about not tolerating harassment and actively intervenes when it comes up, this limits harassment in the organization.<ref name=":9" /> Leaders who commit themselves to decreasing harassment by joining dedicated task forces and putting personal effort into working on the problem are likely to drive the organization to change.<ref name=":11" /> Leaders are also effective at limiting harassment because they can design creative solutions, operating outside of basic processes or policies that are ineffective at curbing harassment.<ref name=":10" /> Finally, leaders serve as role models to the rest of the organization, and their stance on harassment can shape organizational culture.<ref name=":8" /> This is especially important for decreasing intersectional sexual harassment. For one example, having school leaders be educated on allyship and signaling institutional support for smaller student populations can result in lower harassment of [[LGBTQ]] students at those schools.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Domínguez-Martínez |first1=Tecelli |last2=Robles |first2=Rebeca |date=2019-03-19 |title=Preventing Transphobic Bullying and Promoting Inclusive Educational Environments: Literature Review and Implementing Recommendations |url=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arcmed.2019.10.009 |journal=Archives of Medical Research |volume=50 |issue=8 |pages=551 |doi=10.1016/j.arcmed.2019.10.009 |pmid=32036103 |via=Elsevier|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Organizational structure also affects harassment within an organization. If employees feel more secure in their jobs due to their contract structure, they are less likely to be harassed.<ref name=":9" /> If an organization promotes a more respectful culture, it can also reduce sexual harassment.<ref name=":10" /> This has additional benefits in that incivility tends to disproportionately alienate women and people of color.<ref name=":12" /> Changes that increase engagement with an organization, or employee job satisfaction, often serve to reduce harassment at the same time.<ref name=":9" />

Gender imbalances at an organization are a large factor in the likelihood of sexual harassment.<ref name=":10" /> Changing an organization's practices and structure so that power is more equally distributed across people regardless of their gender can decrease harassment. Hiring, retaining, and promoting people into positions of power in ways that even out gender imbalances also reduces harassment. Studies have mostly examined this in the context of increasing women's power in workspaces dominated by men.<ref name=":9" />

=== Training and awareness ===
Prevention strategies often start with raising awareness and advocating for cultures and organizations to stop tolerating harassment.<ref name=":13">{{Cite journal |last=Logan |first=Laura S. |date=2015 |title=Street Harassment: Current and Promising Avenues for Researchers and Activists |url=https://compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/soc4.12248 |journal=Sociology Compass |language=en |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=196–211 |doi=10.1111/soc4.12248 |issn=1751-9020|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Sexual harassment and assault may be prevented by [[secondary school]],<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1080/10538712.2011.622355 |title=A Sexual Assault Primary Prevention Model with Diverse Urban Youth |year=2011 |last1=Smothers |first1=Melissa Kraemer |last2=Smothers |first2=D. Brian |journal=Journal of Child Sexual Abuse |volume=20 |issue=6 |pages=708–27 |pmid=22126112|s2cid=20570694 }}</ref> college,<ref name="Foubert">{{cite journal |pmid=10650733 |year=2000 |last1=Foubert |first1=JD |title=The longitudinal effects of a rape-prevention program on fraternity men's attitudes, behavioral intent, and behavior |volume=48 |issue=4 |pages=158–63 |doi=10.1080/07448480009595691 |journal=[[Journal of American College Health]]|s2cid=38521575 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |pmid=21196436 |year=2011 |last1=Vladutiu |first1=CJ |last2=Martin |first2=SL |last3=Macy |first3=RJ |title=College- or university-based sexual assault prevention programs: A review of program outcomes, characteristics, and recommendations |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=67–86 |doi=10.1177/1524838010390708 |journal=Trauma, Violence & Abuse|s2cid=32144826 }}</ref> and workplace education programs.<ref>{{cite journal |pmid=10520434 |year=1999 |last1=Yeater |first1=EA |last2=O'Donohue |first2=W |title=Sexual assault prevention programs: Current issues, future directions, and the potential efficacy of interventions with women |volume=19 |issue=7 |pages=739–71 |journal=Clinical Psychology Review |doi=10.1016/S0272-7358(98)00075-0|citeseerx=10.1.1.404.3130 }}</ref> At least one program for [[fraternity]] men produced "sustained behavioral change".<ref name="Foubert" /><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1111/j.1939-3938.2010.01094.x |title=Sexual assault prevention programs for college-aged men: A critical evaluation |year=2011 |last1=Garrity |first1=Stacy E. |journal=Journal of Forensic Nursing |volume=7 |pages=40–8 |pmid=21348933 |issue=1|s2cid=39471249 }}</ref>

Many sororities and fraternities in the United States take preventive measures against [[hazing]] and hazing activities during the participants' pledging processes (which may often include sexual harassment). Many [[Fraternities and sororities|Greek organization]]s and universities nationwide have anti-hazing policies that explicitly recognize various acts and examples of hazing, and offer preventive measures for such situations.<ref>[http://www.hazingprevention.org/ Pualwan, CEO Emily N. ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180707180335/http://hazingprevention.org/ |date=2018-07-07 }} HazingPrevention.org. Retrieved September 29, 2018.</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=February 2020}}

Current workplace anti-sexual harassment training programs, policies, and reporting mechanisms have little evidence of effectiveness. Many trainings succeed at teaching people about harassment-related laws and policies but not on acting better, and "some studies suggest that training may in fact backfire, reinforcing gendered stereotypes that place women at a disadvantage".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/whats-the-point-of-sexual-harassment-training-often-to-protect-employers/2017/11/17/18cd631e-c97c-11e7-aa96-54417592cf72_story.html|title=What's the point of sexual harassment training? Often, to protect employers.|last=Edelman|first=Lauren B.|date=2017-11-17|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=2017-11-26|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171124092635/https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/whats-the-point-of-sexual-harassment-training-often-to-protect-employers/2017/11/17/18cd631e-c97c-11e7-aa96-54417592cf72_story.html|archive-date=2017-11-24|url-status=live}}</ref> There is evidence that ineffective trainings can make men scared to interact with women due to heightened fears that they will be falsely accused of harassment, thus leading to gender-based discrimination.<ref name=":10" />

In-person trainings that are customized to one workplace and involve active tasks, lasting longer than a few hours, have more evidence of effectiveness and less chance of backfiring.<ref name=":10" /> How leaders have signaled their intentions behind the trainings is also important: employees react differently to trainings depending on why they think their manager is providing the training.<ref name=":12" /> Anti-harassment training that solely targets managers is also effective, because it is often presented in a way that reduces managers' defensiveness at receiving the training. These often present harassment as a common issue that managers must root out, and managers are treated as potential allies who are being taught new techniques, rather than potential harassers.<ref name=":11" />

Evidence has shown that [[bystander intervention]] training is a more effective method for changing harassment culture than standard anti-harassment trainings. Bystander intervention focuses on teaching positive skills that people can use to intervene if they see harassment or other problems happening. These trainings don't make students as defensive as sexual harassment trainings: students are taught positive skills rather than told what to avoid, and are treated as potential allies rather than harassers.<ref name=":11" /> Systematic, well-made bystander intervention training has been shown to decrease the amount of harassment where it is implemented in higher education institutions.<ref name=":9" />

=== Non-institutional methods ===
In settings where people don't receive institutional support against sexual harassment, people find their own safety, advocacy, and response mechanisms. People have organized public protests and performance art to raise awareness of street harassment in their communities and decrease tolerance for it.<ref name=":13" /> There is evidence that people grow less likely to sexually harass or believe harassment myths when they learn about how harassment affects victims through personal stories.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Diehl |first1=Charlotte |last2=Glaser |first2=Tina |last3=Bohner |first3=Gerd |date=2014 |title=Face the consequences: Learning about victim's suffering reduces sexual harassment myth acceptance and men's likelihood to sexually harass |url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ab.21553 |journal=Aggressive Behavior |volume=40 |issue=6 |pages=489–503 |doi=10.1002/ab.21553 |pmid=25079949 |via=EBSCO|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Projects like [[HARASSmap]] and [[Right to Be|Hollaback!]] collect harassment stories to raise awareness and lower tolerance for harassment in certain communities, using the stories to safely intervene and educate people about stopping harassment where it is prevalent.<ref name=":13" />

The use of [[Sound|audio]] and video [[Video recording|recording]] can help in documenting sexual harassment for use in reporting.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---asia/---ro-bangkok/---ilo-beijing/documents/publication/wcms_157626.pdf |title=Guide on Prevention of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace |access-date=2021-06-04 |archive-date=2022-11-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221122190357/https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---asia/---ro-bangkok/---ilo-beijing/documents/publication/wcms_157626.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Audio recording apps are available for use on [[smartphone]]s, and can for instance be used during [[job interview]]s.

== Impact ==
The impact of sexual harassment can vary. In research carried out by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency, 17,335 female victims of sexual assault were asked to name the feelings that resulted from the most serious incident of sexual assault that they had encountered since the age of 15. 'Anger, annoyance, and embarrassment were the most common emotional responses, with 45% of women feeling anger, 41% annoyance, and 36% embarrassment. Furthermore, close to one in three women (29%) who has experienced sexual harassment have said that they felt fearful as a result of the most serious incident, while one in five (20%) victims say that the most serious incident made themselves feel ashamed of what had taken place.<ref>{{cite book |title=Violence against women : an EU-wide survey : main results|others=European Union. Agency for Fundamental Rights.|isbn=9789292393427|location=Vienna |oclc = 876847362 |year = 2014}}</ref> In other situations, harassment may lead to temporary or prolonged stress or depression depending on the recipient's psychological abilities to cope and the type of harassment and the social support or lack thereof for the recipient. Harnois and Bastos (2018) show an association between women's perceptions of workplace sexual harassment and self-reported physical health.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Harnois |first1=Catherine |last2=Bastos |first2=JL |title=Discrimination, Harassment, and Gendered Health Inequalities: Do Perceptions of Workplace Mistreatment Contribute to the Gender Gap in Self-reported Health? |journal=Journal of Health and Social Behavior |year=2018 |volume=59 |issue=1 |pages=283–299 |doi=10.1177/0022146518767407 |pmid=29608325 |s2cid=4568183 |doi-access=free }}</ref> In addition, a study conducted in 2010 indicated that workplace sexual harassment is linked to greater mental health issues and lower job satisfaction, regardless of assessment technique or gender.<ref name="Nielsen-2010"/> Psychologists and social workers report that severe or chronic sexual harassment can have the same psychological effects as rape or sexual assault.<ref>Koss, Mary P. "Changed Lives: The Psychological Impact of Sexual Harassment." in ''Ivory Power: Sexual Harassment On Campus.'' Albany, NY, State University of New York Press, 1987. pp. 73–92 {{ISBN|978-0-7914-0457-7}}.{{page needed|date=October 2012}}</ref> For example, in 1995, Judith Coflin committed suicide after chronic sexual harassment by her bosses and coworkers. Her family was later awarded six million dollars in punitive and compensatory damages.<ref name="Adebowale2019">{{Cite journal |title=Sexual Harassment and its Implications on Girl-Child's Educational Performance |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331982727 |last=Adebowale |first=Titilola Adedoyin |journal=International Journal of the Forum for African Women Educationalists |volume=4 |number=1 |page=5 |date=March 2019 |doi=10.13140/RG.2.2.28433.07522 |access-date=February 15, 2025 |language=en}}</ref> Victims who do not submit to harassment may also experience various forms of retaliation, including isolation and bullying.

As an overall social and economic effect every year, sexual harassment deprives women from active social and economic participation and costs hundreds of millions of dollars in lost educational and professional opportunities for mostly girls and women.<ref name="ReferenceA">Boland, 2002{{page needed|date=October 2012}}</ref> However, the quantity of men implied in these conflicts is significant.

===Coping===
Sexual harassment, by definition, is unwanted and not to be tolerated. There are ways, however, for offended and injured people to overcome the resultant psychological effects, remain in or return to society, regain healthy feelings within personal relationships when they were affected by the outside relationship trauma, regain social approval, and recover the ability to concentrate and be productive in educational and work environments. These include [[stress management]] and therapy, [[cognitive-behavioral therapy]],<ref>{{cite journal |pmid=11495093 |year=2001 |last1=Foa |first1=EB |last2=Street |first2=GP |title=Women and traumatic events |volume=62 |pages=29–34 |journal=The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry|issue=Suppl 17 }}</ref> friends and family support, and advocacy.<ref name="Advocacy as coping mechanism">{{Cite news|url=https://lifehacker.com/how-to-cope-with-the-current-news-cycle-as-a-sexual-abu-1820823444|title=How to Cope With the Current News Cycle as a Sexual Abuse Survivor|last=Schwartz|first=Deb|date=2017-12-05|website=Lifehacker|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612142415/https://lifehacker.com/how-to-cope-with-the-current-news-cycle-as-a-sexual-abu-1820823444|archive-date=2018-06-12|access-date=2018-01-11}}</ref><ref name="Sexual Assault Advocates">{{Cite news|url=https://psmag.com/social-justice/how-metoo-affects-sexual-assault-advocates|title=How #METOO Affects Sexual Assault Advocates|last=Books Olsen|first=Hanna|date=2017-12-22|newspaper=Pacific Standard|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612141717/https://psmag.com/social-justice/how-metoo-affects-sexual-assault-advocates|archive-date=2018-06-12|access-date=2018-01-11}}</ref>

Immediate psychological and legal counseling are recommended since self-treatment may not release stress or remove trauma, and simply reporting to authorities may not have the desired effect, may be ignored, or may further injure the victim at its response.

A 1991 study done by K.R. Yount found three dominant strategies developed by a sample of women coal miners to manage sexual harassment on the job: the "lady", the "flirt", and the "tomboy".
The "ladies" were typically the older women workers who tended to disengage from the men, kept their distance, avoided using profanity, avoided engaging in any behavior that might be interpreted as suggestive. They also tended to emphasize by their appearance and manners that they were ladies. The consequences for the "ladies" were that they were the targets of the least amount of come-ons, teasing and sexual harassment, but they also accepted the least prestigious and lowest-paid jobs.<ref name="Landrine 1997">{{cite book |last1=Landrine |first1=Hope |author-link1=Hope Landrine |first2=Elizabeth A. |last2=Klonoff |year=1997 |title=Discrimination Against Women: Prevalence, Consequences, and Remedies |location=Thousand Oaks, CA |publisher=Sage Publications}}{{page needed|date=December 2013}}</ref>

The "flirts" were most often the younger single women. As a defense mechanism, they pretended to be flattered when they were the targets of sexual comments. Consequently, they became perceived as the "embodiment of the female stereotype,... as particularly lacking in potential and were given the fewest opportunities to develop job skills and to establish social and self-identities as miners."<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Landrine|first1=Hope|author-link1=Hope Landrine|title=Discrimination against women: prevalence, consequences, remedies|last2=Klonoff|first2=Elizabeth|date=1997|publisher=Sage Publications|isbn=0-7619-0954-0|location=Thousand Oaks, Calif.|oclc=36548828}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=December 2013}}

The "tomboys" were generally single women, but were older than the "flirts". They attempted to separate themselves from the female stereotype and focused on their status as coal miners and tried to develop a "thick skin". They responded to harassment with humor, comebacks, sexual talk of their own, or reciprocation. As a result, they were often viewed as sluts or sexually promiscuous and as women who violated the sexual double standard. Consequently, they were subjected to intensified and increased harassment by some men. It was not clear whether the tomboy strategy resulted in better or worse job assignments.<ref name="Landrine 1997" />

The findings of this study may be applicable to other work settings, including factories, restaurants, offices, and universities. The study concludes that individual strategies for coping with sexual harassment are not likely to be effective and may have unexpected negative consequences for the workplace and may even lead to increased sexual harassment. Women who try to deal with sexual harassment on their own, regardless of what they do, seem to be in a no-win situation.<ref name="Landrine 1997" /> For example, after an anti-groping device allowing victims to mark their assailants with an invisible ink stamp has been released in Japan, some experts claimed it is wrong to put the onus on the victim.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-49509231|title=Anti-groping stamp lets victims mark assailants|date=29 August 2019|website=BBC News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190902031332/https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-49509231|archive-date=2 September 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Common effects on the victims===
Common psychological, academic, professional, financial, and social effects of sexual harassment and retaliation:
* Becoming publicly [[sexualization|sexualized]] (i.e. groups of people "evaluate" the victim to establish if he or she is "worth" the sexual attention or the risk to the harasser's career)
* Being objectified and humiliated by scrutiny and gossip
* Decreased work or school performance as a result of stress conditions; increased [[absenteeism]] in fear of harassment repetition
* [[Defamation]] of character and reputation
* Effects on sexual life and relationships: can put extreme stress upon relationships with [[significant other]]s, sometimes resulting in divorce
* Firing and refusal for a job opportunity can lead to loss of job or career, loss of income
* Having one's personal life offered up for public scrutiny—the victim becomes the "accused", and his or her dress, lifestyle, and private life will often come under attack.
* Having to drop courses, change academic plans, or leave school (loss of tuition) in fear of harassment repetition or as a result of stress
* Having to relocate to another city, another job, or another school
* Loss of references/recommendations
* Loss of trust in environments similar to where the harassment occurred
* Loss of trust in the types of people that occupy similar positions as the harasser or his or her colleagues, especially in case they are not supportive, difficulties or stress on peer relationships, or relationships with colleagues
* Psychological stress and health impairment
* Weakening of support network, or being ostracized from professional or academic circles (friends, colleagues, or family may distance themselves from the victim, or shun him or her altogether)

Some of the psychological and health effects that can occur in someone who has been sexually harassed as a result of [[stress (biology)|stress]] and [[humiliation]]:
[[Major depressive disorder|depression]]; [[anxiety]]; [[panic attack]]s; sleeplessness; [[nightmare]]s; [[shame]]; [[guilt (emotion)|guilt]]; difficulty concentrating; headaches; [[fatigue (physical)|fatigue]]; loss of motivation; stomach problems; [[eating disorder]]s (such as weight loss or gain); [[alcoholism]]; feeling betrayed, violated, angry, violent towards the perpetrator, powerless or out of control; increased blood pressure; loss of confidence or self-esteem; withdrawal; [[Solitude|isolation]]; overall loss of [[Trust (sociology)|trust]] in people; traumatic stress; [[post-traumatic stress disorder]] (PTSD); [[complex post-traumatic stress disorder]]; [[Suicidal ideation|suicidal thoughts]] or attempts, and [[suicide]].<ref name="SHSF_effects" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.webcom.com/wcs/harass.html|title=Women's Crisis Support Services|last=Dervin Flower|first=Hillary|date=9 July 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20070709085048/http://www.webcom.com/wcs/harass.html|archive-date=9 July 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uoregon.edu/~counsel/harass.htm|title=Sexual Harassment: Myths and Realities|publisher=Journal of the American Psychological Association|via=University of Oregon|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516085341/http://www.uoregon.edu/~counsel/harass.htm|archive-date=2008-05-16|access-date=2012-10-07}}</ref><ref name="VAW_effects">{{cite web |url=http://www.stopvaw.org/Effects_of_Sexual_Harassment.html |title=Effects of Sexual Harassment |publisher=Stop Violence Against Women |date=9 May 2007 |access-date=2012-10-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121007000059/http://www.stopvaw.org/effects_of_sexual_harassment.html |archive-date=7 October 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="ILO--2002">{{Cite journal|date=23 May 2002|title=Gender Issues|url=http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/safework/gender/encyclo/psy14ae.htm|url-status=dead|journal=ILO Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety|publisher=[[International Labour Organization]]|volume=2|pages=34.1–34.77|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220123857/http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/safework/gender/encyclo/psy14ae.htm|archive-date=20 December 2008}}</ref>

===Post-complaint retaliation and backlash===
{{See also|Victim blaming}}
Retaliation and backlash against a victim are very common, particularly a complainant. Victims who speak out against sexual harassment are often labeled troublemakers who are on their own "power trips", or who are looking for attention. Similar to cases of [[rape]] or sexual assault, the victim often becomes the accused, with their appearance, private life, and character likely to fall under intrusive scrutiny and attack.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dittmann|first=M.|date=October 2003|title=Sexual harassment too often leads to humiliation for victims|url=https://www.apa.org/monitor/oct03/harass.html|journal=Monitor on Psychology|publisher=American Psychological Association|volume=34|issue=9|pages=13|access-date=11 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502213700/https://www.apa.org/monitor/oct03/harass.html|archive-date=2 May 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Excuses for [[victim blaming]] include clothing and behavior.<ref name="a604">{{cite journal | last1=Bergenfeld | first1=Irina | last2=Clark | first2=Cari Jo | last3=Sandhu | first3=Seema | last4=Yount | first4=Kathryn M. | last5=Essaid | first5=Aida A. | last6=Sajdi | first6=Jude | last7=Abu Taleb | first7=Rand | last8=Robbin | first8=Zoe | last9=Batayeh | first9=Brian | last10=Zwooqar | first10=Ahad | last11=Spencer | first11=Rachael A. | title="There Is Always an Excuse to Blame the Girl": Perspectives on Sexual Harassment at a Jordanian University | journal=Violence Against Women | volume=28 | issue=14 | date=2022 | issn=1077-8012 | doi=10.1177/10778012221079373 | pages=3457–3481| pmid=35200046 }}</ref><ref name="z956">{{cite web | title=The myth of how the hijab protects women against sexual assault | website=Women’s Media Center | date=6 September 2012 | url=https://womensmediacenter.com/women-under-siege/the-myth-of-how-the-hijab-protects-women-against-sexual-assault | access-date=12 September 2024}}</ref> They risk hostility and isolation from colleagues, supervisors, teachers, fellow students, and even friends. They may become the targets of [[mobbing]] or [[relational aggression]].<ref name="SHSF_effects">{{Cite web|url=http://www.sexualharassmentsupport.org/effects.html|title=Common Effects of Sexual Harassment|website=Sexual Harassment Support|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100417080143/http://www.sexualharassmentsupport.org/effects.html|archive-date=April 17, 2010}}</ref>

Women are not necessarily sympathetic to other women complainants who have been sexually harassed. If the harasser was male, internalized sexism (or jealousy over the sexual attention towards the victim) may encourage some women to react with as much hostility towards the complainant as some male colleagues.<ref name="webcom">[http://www.webcom.com/wcs/harass.html Dealing With Sexual Harassment] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20070709085048/http://www.webcom.com/wcs/harass.html |date=2007-07-09 }} (link is not active)</ref> Fear of being targeted for harassment or retaliation themselves may also cause some women to respond with hostility.<ref name="backlash">{{Cite web|url=http://www.sexualharassmentsupport.org/Backlash.html|title=Sexual Harassment Retaliation, Backlash, and Victim-blaming|website=Sexual Harassment Support|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090130061955/http://www.sexualharassmentsupport.org/Backlash.html|archive-date=30 January 2009}}</ref> For example, when Lois Jenson filed her lawsuit against Eveleth Taconite Co., the women [[shunning|shunned]] her both at work and in the community—many of these women later joined her suit.<ref>Bingham, Clara; Gansler, Laura Leedy. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=ur03ZVbot6IC Class Action: The Landmark Case that Changed Sexual Harassment Law] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160105082011/https://books.google.com/books?id=ur03ZVbot6IC&printsec=frontcover |date=2016-01-05 }}''.{{page needed|date=October 2012}} New York, Anchor Books, 2002. {{ISBN|978-0-385-49613-1}}.</ref> Women may even project hostility onto the victim in order to bond with their male coworkers and build trust.<ref name="backlash" />

Retaliation has occurred when a sexual harassment victim suffers a negative action as a result of the harassment. For example, a complainant be given poor evaluations or low grades, have their projects [[sabotage]]d, be denied work or academic opportunities, have their work hours cut back, and other actions against them which undermine their productivity, or their ability to advance at work or school, being fired after reporting sexual harassment or leading to unemployment as they may be suspended, asked to resign, or be [[Termination of employment|fired]] from their jobs altogether. Retaliation can even involve further sexual harassment, and also [[stalking]] and [[cyberstalking]] of the victim.<ref name="webcom" /><ref name="backlash" /> Moreover, a school professor or employer accused of sexual harassment, or who is the colleague of a perpetrator, can use their power to see that a victim is never hired again (blacklisting), or never accepted to another school.

Of the women who have approached her to share their own experiences of being [[Sexual harassment in education|sexually harassed by their teachers]], [[Feminism|feminist]] writer [[Naomi Wolf]] wrote in 2004:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/features/n_9932/index.html|title=The Silent Treatment|last=Wolf|first=Naomi|date=February 23, 2004|publisher=New York Metro|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011083501/http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/features/n_9932/index.html|archive-date=2008-10-11|access-date=2012-10-07}}</ref>
<blockquote>I am ashamed of what I tell them: that they should indeed worry about making an accusation because what they fear is likely to come true. Not one of the women I have heard from had an outcome that was not worse for her than silence. One, I recall, was drummed out of the school by [[peer pressure]]. Many faced bureaucratic stonewalling. Some women said they lost their academic status as golden girls overnight; grants dried up, letters of recommendation were no longer forthcoming. No one was met with a coherent process that was not weighted against them. Usually, the key decision-makers in the college or university—especially if it was a private university—joined forces to, in effect, collude with the faculty member accused; to protect not him necessarily but the reputation of the university, and to keep information from surfacing in a way that could protect other women. The goal seemed to be not to provide a balanced forum, but damage control.</blockquote>

Another woman who was interviewed by sociologist Helen Watson said, "Facing up to the crime and having to deal with it in public is probably worse than suffering in silence. I found it to be a lot worse than the harassment itself."<ref>Watson, Helen. "Red herrings and mystifications: Conflicting perceptions of sexual harassment," in Brant, Clare, and Too, Yun Lee, eds., ''Rethinking Sexual Harassment''. Boulder, Colorado, Pluto Press, 1994. {{ISBN|978-0-7453-0837-1}}.</ref>

===Backlash stress===
Backlash stress is stress resulting from an uncertainty regarding changing norms for interacting with women in the workplace.<ref name="Taylor Schneider">{{cite book|last=Taylor Schneider|first=Kimberly|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gH18NQAACAAJ|title=Bystander Stress: The Effect of Organizational Tolerance of Sexual Harassment on Victim's Co-workers|publisher=University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign|year=1996|isbn=9780591088458|access-date=2017-09-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200102214053/https://books.google.com/books/about/Bystander_Stress.html?id=gH18NQAACAAJ|archive-date=2020-01-02|url-status=live}}</ref> Backlash stress now deters many male workers from befriending female colleagues, or providing them with any assistance, such as holding doors open. As a result, women are being handicapped by a lack of the necessary networking and mentorship.<ref name="daubney">{{cite news|last=Daubney|first=Martin|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/relationships/11904203/Well-done-feminism.-Now-man-are-afraid-to-help-women-at-work.html|title=Well done, feminism. Now men are afraid to help women at work|date=1 October 2015|work=The Daily Telegraph|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180225095856/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/relationships/11904203/Well-done-feminism.-Now-man-are-afraid-to-help-women-at-work.html|archive-date=25 February 2018}}</ref><ref name="elsesser">{{cite book |first=Kim |last=Elsesser |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=SSf-CQAAQBAJ |title=Sex and the Office: Women, Men, and the Sex Partition That's Dividing the Workplace |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2015 |isbn=978-1630761219 }}</ref>

== Women of color ==
The sexual harassment [[women of color]] face are often ignored when discussions about sexual harassment women face occur.<ref name="Welsh-2006">{{Cite journal |last1=Welsh |first1=Sandy |last2=Carr |first2=Jacquie |last3=MacQuarrie |first3=Barbara |last4=Huntley |first4=Audrey |date=2006 |title="I'm Not Thinking of It as Sexual Harassment": Understanding Harassment across Race and Citizenship |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27640867 |journal=Gender and Society |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=87–107 |doi=10.1177/0891243205282785 |jstor=27640867 |s2cid=145101291 |issn=0891-2432 |access-date=2023-05-08 |archive-date=2023-04-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405190921/https://www.jstor.org/stable/27640867 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Harassment of women of color tends to stem from [[racial discrimination]].<ref name="Welsh-2006"/> Poor African American women are more likely to experience sexual harassment but less likely to be seen as a victim.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Buchanan |first1=Nicole T. |last2=Ormerod |first2=Alayne J. |date=2002-10-29 |title=Racialized Sexual Harassment in the Lives of African American Women |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1300/J015v25n03_08 |journal=Women & Therapy |language=en |volume=25 |issue=3–4 |pages=107–124 |doi=10.1300/J015v25n03_08 |s2cid=144425126 |issn=0270-3149 |access-date=2023-05-08 |archive-date=2024-05-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518022534/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J015v25n03_08 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Stockdale |first=Margaret |date=1996 |title=Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: Perspectives, Frontiers, and Response Strategies |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781483327280 |doi=10.4135/9781483327280 |isbn=9780803957947 |access-date=2023-05-08 |archive-date=2024-05-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518022535/https://sk.sagepub.com/books/sexual-harassment-in-the-workplace |url-status=live }}</ref> It is conditions like these that make it difficult for women of color to report sexual harassment, allowing the cycle to continue.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Feagin |first=Joe R. |date=1992 |title=On Not Taking Gendered Racism Seriously: The Failure of the Mass Media and the Social Sciences |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0021886392283007 |journal=The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science |language=en |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=400–406 |doi=10.1177/0021886392283007 |s2cid=144210172 |issn=0021-8863 |access-date=2023-05-08 |archive-date=2023-04-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407001052/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0021886392283007 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Earlier studies revealed that there was no difference between the sexual harassment rates of white women and women of color.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1997-09-26 |title=Sexual Harassment in the Federal Workplace: 1978-1980, 1987, and 1994 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/icpsr06893.v1 |access-date=2023-04-19 |website=ICPSR Data Holdings |doi=10.3886/icpsr06893.v1 |archive-date=2024-05-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518022547/https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/ICPSR/studies/6893/versions/V1 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Crosby |first=Faye J. |date=1987 |title=Sex and the Workplace: The Impact of Sexual Behavior and Harassment on Women, Men, and Organizations, by Barbara A. Gutek. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1985. 216pp. (xv). $19.95 hard cover. |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/036168438701100101 |journal=Psychology of Women Quarterly |language=en |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=130–132 |doi=10.1177/036168438701100101 |s2cid=146819853 |issn=0361-6843 |access-date=2023-05-08 |archive-date=2023-06-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606161929/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/036168438701100101 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> However, there is evidence that reveals women of color deal with sexual harassment, this sexual harassment is on more severe lines.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gruber |first1=James E. |last2=Bjorn |first2=Lars |date=1982 |title=Blue-Collar Blues: The Sexual Harassment of Women Autoworkers |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0730888482009003002 |journal=Work and Occupations |language=en |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=271–298 |doi=10.1177/0730888482009003002 |s2cid=143586619 |issn=0730-8884 |access-date=2023-05-08 |archive-date=2023-04-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407001059/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0730888482009003002 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Welsh |first=Sandy |date=1999 |title=Gender and Sexual Harassment |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/199590842 |journal=Annual Review of Sociology |volume=25 |pages=169–190 |doi=10.1146/annurev.soc.25.1.169 |id={{ProQuest|199590842}} |access-date=2023-05-08 |archive-date=2023-10-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231020130956/https://www.proquest.com/docview/199590842 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Race and gender influence most of the sexual harassment that women of color face. Women of color are less likely to report sexual harassment if the perpetrator is the same race. This is known as the code of silence. This is influenced by the race of the harasser, and predominately affects women of color.<ref name="Richardson-2009">{{Cite journal |last1=Richardson |first1=Brian K. |last2=Taylor |first2=Juandalynn |date=2009-08-04 |title=Sexual Harassment at the Intersection of Race and Gender: A Theoretical Model of the Sexual Harassment Experiences of Women of Color |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10570310903082065 |journal=Western Journal of Communication |language=en |volume=73 |issue=3 |pages=248–272 |doi=10.1080/10570310903082065 |s2cid=143660626 |issn=1057-0314 |access-date=2023-05-08 |archive-date=2023-03-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314025838/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10570310903082065 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Black women do not usually see things that a white woman would claim to be sexual harassment because they are accustomed to it, it is normal to them and so there is not much of a problem.<ref name="Welsh-2006"/>

Something that is unique to the sexual harassment of women of color is the common bond factor. The common bond factor is when a man of color sees someone of their own race or culture, and they feel as if it is okay to sexually harass them. They think that they can act and talk without regard to the law because they feel as if it is not being broken.<ref name="Richardson-2009"/>

The perception of sexual harassment from women of color includes racism and sexism whereas white women's perception only includes sexism. There is this interlocking of relations, commonly known as [[intersectionality]], within the sexual harassment women of color face, between racism and sexism. White women, when speaking about sexual harassment, speak from the role of a victim whereas women of color speak from the role of a harasser. Women of color, as well, have stereotypes taken into consideration when it comes to harassment. These stereotypes make it difficult for women of color to come forward about sexual harassment, as they will likely not be believed.<ref name="Richardson-2009"/> For instance, there is the stereotype that Latin women are super emotional and tend to overreact. This stereotype may be conveyed when a Latin woman comes forward about sexual harassment, resulting in her claim not being taken seriously. Speaking up results in stereotypes being put on the person coming forward, making them uncomfortable with doing so.<ref name="Richardson-2009" /> Similarly, it is difficult for women of color to be supported when speaking out, as their experiences are different from those of white women, as is the case of Anita Hill.<ref name="Pantheon Books-1992">{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/25632335 |title=Race-ing justice, en-gendering power : essays on Anita Hill, Clarence Thomas, and the construction of social reality |date=1992 |publisher=Pantheon Books |others=Toni Morrison |isbn=0-679-74145-3 |edition=1 |location=New York |oclc=25632335 |access-date=2023-05-08 |archive-date=2024-05-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518023043/https://search.worldcat.org/title/25632335 |url-status=live }}</ref> Particularly, the feminist movement is geared towards helping white women rather than women of color due to women of color's experiences being foreign. In turn, women of color do not join feminist movements or groups because they do not see their experiences reflected.<ref name="Pantheon Books-1992" />

There is a relationship between legal status and sexual harassment; there is an [[intersectionality]] between them. Citizen status can influence women experiencing or reporting sexual harassment. Being undocumented can make it difficult to come forward for fear of being deported.<ref name="Welsh-2006"/> White women with citizenship say that sexual harassment is unwanted behavior, women of color without citizenship found it difficult to explain what they thought sexual harassment was, but that it did include race.<ref name="Welsh-2006" /> This however makes it difficult for Black women to differentiate sexual harassment in the workplace from sexual harassment in society.<ref name="Welsh-2006" />

==Organizational policies and procedures==
Most companies have policies against sexual harassment; however, these policies are not designed and should not attempt to "regulate romance" which goes against human urges.<ref name="markschickman" />

Act upon a report of harassment inside the organization should be:
{{blockquote|The investigation should be designed to obtain a prompt and thorough collection of the facts, an appropriate responsive action, and an expeditious report to the complainant that the investigation has been concluded, and, to the full extent appropriate, the action taken.|Mark I. Schickman, Sexual Harassment. The employer's role in prevention. [[American Bar Association]]<ref name="markschickman">{{cite journal|last=Schickman|first=Mark I|title=Sexual Harassment – The employer's role in prevention|journal=The Compleat Lawyer|date=1996|volume=13|issue=1|pages=24–28|publisher=[[American Bar Association]]|url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/gpsolo13&div=11&id=&page=|access-date=11 February 2020|archive-date=14 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614003552/https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/gpsolo13&div=11&id=&page=|url-status=live}}</ref>|title=|source=}}

When organizations do not take the respective satisfactory measures for properly investigating, stress and psychological counseling and guidance, and just deciding of the problem this could lead to:
* Decreased productivity and increased team conflict
* Decreased study or job satisfaction
* Loss of students and staff. Loss of students who leave school and staff resignations to avoid harassment. Resignations and firings of alleged harassers.
* Decreased productivity and increased absenteeism by staff or students experiencing harassment
* Decrease in success at meeting academic and financial goals
* Increased health-care and sick-pay costs because of the health consequences of harassment or retaliation
* The knowledge that harassment is permitted can undermine ethical standards and discipline in the organization in general, as staff or students lose respect for, and trust in, their seniors who indulge in, or turn a blind eye to, or treat improperly sexual harassment
* If the problem is ignored or not treated properly, a company's or school's image can suffer
* High jury awards for the employee, attorney fees and litigation costs if the problem is ignored or not treated properly (in case of firing the victim) when the complainants are advised to and take the issue to court.<ref name="techrep" /><ref name="VAW_effects" /><ref name="ILO--2002" /><ref>Boland, 1990{{page needed|date=October 2012}}</ref><ref name="janaraver" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://qnc.queensu.ca/story_loader.php?id=42b98262192e9|title=Sexual harassment bad for victims and for business|date=June 22, 2005|website=Queen's News Centre|publisher=Queen's University School of Business|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090907233138/http://qnc.queensu.ca/story_loader.php?id=42b98262192e9|archive-date=September 7, 2009|access-date=March 13, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.westerncape.gov.za/eng/pubs/guides/S/63925/7|title=For Help with the Handling of Harassment|last=Prekel|first=Truida|date=2005|publisher=Western Cape Government|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018012030/http://www.westerncape.gov.za/eng/pubs/guides/S/63925/7|archive-date=2012-10-18|access-date=2012-10-07}}</ref>

Studies show that [[organizational climate]] (an organization's tolerance, policy, procedure etc.) and workplace environment are essential for understanding the conditions in which sexual harassment is likely to occur, and the way its victims will be affected (yet, research on specific policy and procedure, and awareness strategies is lacking).<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Dougherty |first1=Debbie S |last2=Goldstein Hode |first2=Marlo |date=August 2016 |title=Binary logics and the discursive interpretation of organizational policy: Making meaning of sexual harassment policy |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0018726715624956 |journal=Human Relations |language=en |volume=69 |issue=8 |pages=1729–1755 |doi=10.1177/0018726715624956 |s2cid=148340272 |issn=0018-7267 |access-date=2023-12-05 |archive-date=2023-12-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207183751/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0018726715624956 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Another element which increases the risk for sexual harassment is the job's gender context (having few women in the close working environment or practicing in a field which is perceived as atypical for women).<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1111/j.1744-6570.2007.00067.x |title=A Meta-Analysis of the Antecedents and Consequences of Workplace Sexual Harassment |year=2007 |last1=Willness |first1=Chelsea R. |last2=Steel |first2=Piers |last3=Lee |first3=Kibeom |journal=Personnel Psychology |volume=60 |pages=127–162 |citeseerx=10.1.1.472.6532 }}</ref>

Although research on occupational sexual assault is still in its infancy, the European Union reports that 40–50% of women report having encountered inappropriate sexual conduct or sexual harassment at work (World Health Organization, 2012). According to Burn (2018), In order to reduce sexual harassment, organisational climates and circumstances that support sexual harassment must change. Changes to the normative environments that sustain sexual harassment include the adoption of explicit anti-harassment rules and practices. Sexual harassment rules have the potential to deter sexual harassment and provide victims with channels for redress. According to Medeiros (2019),<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Medeiros |first1=Kelsey |last2=Griffith |first2=Jennifer |date=March 2019 |title=#Ustoo: How I-O psychologists can extend the conversation on sexual harassment and sexual assault through workplace training |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/industrial-and-organizational-psychology/article/abs/ustoo-how-io-psychologists-can-extend-the-conversation-on-sexual-harassment-and-sexual-assault-through-workplace-training/634BE392AA182B153850A1B2452380AB |journal=Industrial and Organizational Psychology |language=en |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=1–19 |doi=10.1017/iop.2018.155 |s2cid=181392874 |issn=1754-9426 |access-date=2023-09-30 |archive-date=2023-10-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231020130916/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/industrial-and-organizational-psychology/article/abs/ustoo-how-io-psychologists-can-extend-the-conversation-on-sexual-harassment-and-sexual-assault-through-workplace-training/634BE392AA182B153850A1B2452380AB |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> the current endeavor puts out a framework for creating workplace sexual harassment prevention programmes and is based on research on training and development, college sexual assault, and workplace sexual harassment. The suggestions for preventing sexual harassment are mostly based on the research on sexual assault on college campuses. The persistent curiosity in and study of educational institutions for sexual assault preventative measures, despite this approach's shortcomings, has produced a database of researched interventions that fills in the gaps left by the dearth of empirical studies on sexual assault preventive interventions. Additionally, sexual harassment and assault have been characterized as a continuum where less severe behaviors have the potential to escalate into more violent acts over time if left unchecked (Department of Defence, 2014; Fitzgerald,1993). Hence, even if sexual harassment and assault are distinct behavior's, their increasing prevalence indicates that interventions ought to address the entire range of behaviors', particularly considering the restricted time and financial resources allocated to educational programs.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dougherty |first=Debbie S. |title=Sexual harassment in organizational culture: a transformative approach |date=2023 |publisher=Cognella |isbn=978-1-5165-8635-6 |location=San Diego}}</ref>

According to Dr. Orit Kamir, the most effective way to avoid sexual harassment in the workplace, and also influence the public's state of mind, is for the employer to adopt a clear policy prohibiting sexual harassment and to make it very clear to their employees. Many women prefer to make a complaint and to have the matter resolved within the workplace rather than to "air out the dirty laundry" with a public complaint and be seen as a traitor by colleagues, superiors and employers, adds Kamir.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://portal.idc.ac.il/he/lawreview/volumes/volume09/pages/kamir.aspx|last=Orit|first=Kamir|date=2008|website=IDC Herzliya|language=he, en|script-title=he:החוק הישראלי למניעת הטרדה מינית — איפה אנחנו במלאת לו עשור?|trans-title=Israel's Sexual Harassment Law After Its First Decade: An Assessment of Its Achievements and Failings|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121202032950/http://portal.idc.ac.il/He/lawreview/volumes/volume09/Pages/kamir.aspx|archive-date=2012-12-02|access-date=2020-02-11}}</ref><ref name="maryrowe">Rowe, Mary. [http://web.mit.edu/ombud/publications/deal.pdf "Dealing with Harassment: A Systems Approach,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121106173032/http://web.mit.edu/ombud/publications/deal.pdf |date=2012-11-06 }} in ''Sexual Harassment: Perspectives, Frontiers, and Response Strategies, Women & Work, Vol. 5''. Sage Publications, 1996, pp.&nbsp;241–271. {{ISBN|978-0-8039-5794-7}}.{{page needed|date=December 2013}}</ref><ref name="DoiBFMissing">{{cite journal |doi=10.1007/BF01000611 |title=People who feel harassed need a complaint system with both formal and informal options |year=1990 |last1=Rowe |first1=Mary P. |journal=Negotiation Journal |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=161–172|s2cid=145016770 }}</ref>

Most prefer a pragmatic solution that would stop the harassment and prevent future contact with the harasser rather than turning to the police. More about the difficulty in turning an offense into a legal act can be found in Felstiner & Sarat's (1981) study,<ref>{{cite journal |first1=William L.F. |last1=Felstiner |first2=Richard L. |last2=Abel |first3=Austin |last3=Sarat |year=1980 |title=The Emergence and Transformation of Disputes: Naming, Blaming, Claiming… |journal=Law & Society Review |volume=15 |issue=3/4 |pages=631–54 |jstor=3053505 |doi=10.2307/3053505|s2cid=56047694 }}</ref> which describes three steps a victim (of any dispute) must go through before turning to the justice system: naming—giving the assault a definition, blaming—understanding who is responsible for the violation of rights and facing them, and finally, claiming—turning to the authorities.

==Evolution of law in different jurisdictions==
{{Criminal law}}
It may include a range of actions from mild transgressions to [[sexual abuse]] or [[sexual assault]].<ref name="auto" /> Sexual harassment is a form of [[Law|illegal]] [[employment discrimination]] in many countries, and is a form of [[abuse]] (sexual and [[psychological abuse]]s) and [[bullying]].

The [[Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women]] classifies [[violence against women]] into three categories: that occurring in the family, that occurring within the general community, and that perpetrated or condoned by the State. The term ''sexual harassment'' is used in defining violence occurring in the general community, which is defined as: "Physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring within the general community, including rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in educational institutions and elsewhere, trafficking in women and forced prostitution."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/atrocity-crimes/Doc.21_declaration%20elimination%20vaw.pdf|title=Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women|last=United Nations General Assembly|date=20 December 1993|work=United Nations|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214081113/http://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/atrocity-crimes/Doc.21_declaration%20elimination%20vaw.pdf|archive-date=14 February 2019}}</ref>

Sexual harassment is subject to a [[Directive (European Union)|directive in the European Union]].<ref name="eur-lex.europa.eu">[http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CONSLEG:1976L0207:20021005:EN:PDF "{O}n the implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women ... (76/207/EEC)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140204010321/http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CONSLEG:1976L0207:20021005:EN:PDF |date=2014-02-04 }}, Council of the [[European Communities|European Economic Communities]], 9 February 1976. Amended 23 September 2002.</ref> The [[United States]]' [[Equal Employment Opportunity Commission]] (EEOC) states, "It is unlawful to harass a person (an applicant or employee) because of that person's sex."

In India, the case of ''[[Vishakha and others v State of Rajasthan]]'' in 1997 has been credited with establishing sexual harassment as illegal.<ref name="india_rape">{{cite web|url=http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/rape_laws.htm|title=Redefining the Rape laws in India: a constructive and comparative approach|last=Desal|first=Dhruv|date=30 December 2003|publisher=Legal Service India|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130115194231/http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/rape_laws.htm|archive-date=15 January 2013|access-date=2012-10-07}}</ref> In Israel, the 1988 Equal Employment Opportunity Law made it a crime for an employer to retaliate against an employee who had rejected sexual advances, but it was not until 1998 that the Israeli Sexual Harassment Law made such behavior illegal.<ref name="Kamir" />

In May 2002, the [[European Union]] Council and Parliament amended a 1976 Council Directive on the equal treatment of men and women in employment to prohibit sexual harassment in the workplace, naming it a form of sex discrimination and violation of dignity. This Directive required all Member States of the European Union to adopt laws on sexual harassment, or amend existing laws to comply with the Directive by October 2005.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.stopvaw.org/Domestic_Legal_Framework.html?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7BD7FABC81-256E-41C1-BF3A-563AD89AA809%7D|title=Domestic Legal Framework|last=Stop Violence Against Women|date=13 July 2007|publisher=The Advocates for Human Rights|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116004349/http://www.stopvaw.org/Domestic_Legal_Framework.html?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7BD7FABC81-256E-41C1-BF3A-563AD89AA809%7D|archive-date=16 November 2018|access-date=2020-02-11}}</ref>

In 2005, China added new provisions to the ''Law on Women's Right Protection'' to include sexual harassment.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4625913.stm |title=China to outlaw sexual harassment |work=BBC News |date=27 June 2005 |access-date=2012-10-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120730155433/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4625913.stm |archive-date=30 July 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2006, "The Shanghai Supplement" was drafted to help further define sexual harassment in China.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Li |first1=Cao |last2=South |first2=Mark |url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-10/27/content_718147.htm |title=Draft bill details sexual harassment |publisher=China Daily |date=27 October 2006 |access-date=2012-10-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024012122/http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-10/27/content_718147.htm |archive-date=24 October 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Sexual harassment was specifically criminalized for the first time in modern Egyptian history in June 2014.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Hendawi|first1=Hamza|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/sexual-assault-on-student-sparks-outrage-in-egypt/|title=Sexual assault on student sparks outrage in Egypt Read more: Sexual assault on student sparks outrage in Egypt|date=10 June 2014|work=The Times of Israel|access-date=7 November 2014|url-status=live|agency=Associated Press|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141107120444/http://www.timesofisrael.com/sexual-assault-on-student-sparks-outrage-in-egypt/|archive-date=7 November 2014}}</ref>

{{As of|2016||df=}}, sexual harassment remains legal in Kuwait<ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2016/country-chapters/kuwait|title=World Report 2016: Kuwait|publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]]|year=2016|chapter=Women's Rights, Sexual Orientation, and Gender Identity|access-date=11 February 2020|archive-date=5 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180605213413/https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2016/country-chapters/kuwait|url-status=live}}</ref> and Djibouti.<ref>[https://2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/252887.pdf "Djibouti 2015 Human Rights Report"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190907015343/https://2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/252887.pdf |date=2019-09-07 }}, [[United States Department of State]] [[Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor]].</ref>

===Varied legal guidelines and definitions===
'''The [[United Nations]] General Recommendation 19 to the convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women''' defines sexual harassment of women to include:

<blockquote>such unwelcome sexually determined behavior as physical contact and advances, sexually colored remarks, showing pornography and sexual demands, whether by words or actions. Such conduct can be humiliating and may constitute a health and safety problem; it is discriminatory when the woman has reasonable ground to believe that her objection would disadvantage her in connection with her employment, including recruitment or promotion, or when it creates a hostile working environment.</blockquote>

While such conduct can be harassment of women by men, many laws around the world which prohibit sexual harassment recognize that both men and women may be harassers or victims of sexual harassment. However, most claims of sexual harassment are made by women.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/enforcement/sexual_harassment.cfm |title=Sexual Harassment Charges: EEOC & FEPAs Combined: FY 1997 – FY 2011 |publisher=U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission |access-date=2012-10-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121007201224/http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/enforcement/sexual_harassment.cfm |archive-date=2012-10-07 |url-status=live }}</ref>

There are many similarities, and also important differences in laws and definitions used around the world.

===Africa===
====Egypt====
Sexual harassment is rife in Egypt. A 2013 study from the United Nations showed that 99.3 percent of Egyptian women have suffered some form of sexual harassment. Authorities punish women when they do speak out.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190722-egypt-15-year-old-girl-detained-for-stabbing-her-rapist/|title=Egypt: 15-year-old girl detained for stabbing her rapist|date=July 22, 2019|website=Middle East Monitor|access-date=November 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191212024928/https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190722-egypt-15-year-old-girl-detained-for-stabbing-her-rapist/|archive-date=December 12, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.albawaba.com/node/egyptians-defend-young-girl-killed-her-rapist-face-law-1298118|title=Egyptians Defend Young Girl Who Killed Her Rapist In Face of The Law|date=July 18, 2019|website=Al Bawaba|access-date=November 25, 2019|archive-date=June 13, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200613105943/https://www.albawaba.com/node/egyptians-defend-young-girl-killed-her-rapist-face-law-1298118|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20191106-egypt-girl-who-stabbed-her-rapist-released/|title=Egypt girl who stabbed her rapist released|date=November 6, 2019|website=Middle East Monitor|access-date=November 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191107135752/https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20191106-egypt-girl-who-stabbed-her-rapist-released/|archive-date=November 7, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Morocco====
In 2016, a stricter law proscribing sexual harassment was proposed in Morocco specifying fines and a possible jail sentence of up to 6 months.<ref name="tmt_24March2016">{{cite news|url=http://themoroccantimes.com/2016/03/18929/sexual-harrassement-morocco-jail-sentence|title=Up to 6 Months in Jail if You Sexually Harass a Woman in Morocco|date=24 March 2016|work=The Moroccan Times|access-date=11 October 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011143631/http://themoroccantimes.com/2016/03/18929/sexual-harrassement-morocco-jail-sentence|archive-date=11 October 2016}}</ref> The existing law against harassment was reported to not be upheld, as harassment was not reported to police by victims and even when reported, was not investigated by police or prosecuted by the courts.<ref name="tmt_24March2016" /><ref name="bbc_mag_10Oct2016">{{cite news |title=The Moroccan women fighting daily sexual harassment |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-37589687 |access-date=11 October 2016 |work=BBC Magazine |publisher=[[BBC]] |date=10 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161010235625/http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-37589687 |archive-date=10 October 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref>
On June 1, 2023, a Moroccan court sentenced a 32-year-old man to two years in prison for sexually harassing and forcibly kissing a woman inside a church.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://themoroccantimes.com/2023/06/25902/man-sentenced-to-two-years-in-jail-for-sexual-harassment-and-kissing-inside-tangier-church|title=Man Sentenced to Two Years in Jail for Sexual Harassment and Kissing Inside Tangier Church|work=The Moroccan Times |date=2023-06-03|access-date=2023-06-03|archive-date=2023-06-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230602161339/https://themoroccantimes.com/2023/06/25902/man-sentenced-to-two-years-in-jail-for-sexual-harassment-and-kissing-inside-tangier-church|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Australia===
The [[Sex Discrimination Act 1984]] defines sexual harassment as "... a person sexually harasses another person (the person harassed ) if: (a) the person makes an unwelcome sexual advance, or an unwelcome request for sexual favours, to the person harassed; or (b) engages in other unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature in relation to the person harassed; in circumstances in which a reasonable person, having regard to all the circumstances, would have anticipated the possibility that the person harassed would be offended, humiliated or intimidated."<ref>{{cite Legislation AU|Cth|act|sda1984209|Sex Discrimination Act 1984|28A}}.</ref>

===Europe===
In the [[European Union]], there is a [[Directive (European Union)|directive]] on sexual harassment. The ''Directive 2002/73/EC – equal treatment of 23 September 2002 amending Council Directive 76/207/EEC on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women as regards access to employment, vocational training and promotion, and working conditions'' states:<ref name="eur-lex.europa.eu" />
<blockquote>For the purposes of this Directive, the following definitions shall apply: (...)
* sexual harassment: where any form of unwanted verbal, non-verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature occurs, with the purpose or effect of violating the dignity of a person, in particular when creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment
Harassment and sexual harassment within the meaning of this Directive shall be deemed to be discrimination on the grounds of sex and therefore prohibited.</blockquote>

The [[Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence]] also addresses the issue of sexual harassment (Article 40), using a similar definition.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/EN/Treaties/Html/210.htm|title=Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (CETS No. 210)|last=Council of Europe|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923210455/http://www.conventions.coe.int/Treaty/EN/Treaties/Html/210.htm|archive-date=2015-09-23}}</ref>

====Denmark====
Sexual harassment is defined as when any verbal, non-verbal or physical action is used to change a victim's sexual status against the will of the victim and resulting in the victim feeling inferior or hurting the victim's dignity. Men and women are looked upon as equal, and any action trying to change the balance in status with the differences in sex as a tool, is also sexual harassment. In the workplace, jokes, remarks, etc., are only deemed discriminatory if the employer has stated so in their written policy. Law number 1385 of December 21, 2005 regulates this area.<ref name="Denmark law">{{cite web|url=http://www.ku.dk/regel/2/2002.html#LOV%20nr%201385|title=Denmark Law|date=2016-06-29|publisher=Københavns Universitet|language=da|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321222932/http://www.ku.dk/regel/2/2002.html#LOV%20nr%201385|archive-date=21 March 2012|access-date=2012-10-07}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.retsinformation.dk/forms/r0710.aspx?id=137042|title=Ligebehandlingsloven – Bekendtgørelse af lov om ligebehandling af mænd og kvinder med hensyn til beskæftigelse m.v|website=www.retsinformation.dk|language=da|trans-title=The Equal Treatment Act – Executive Order on the Equal Treatment Act for men and women with regard to employment, etc.|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181214022811/https://www.retsinformation.dk/Forms/R0710.aspx?id=137042|archive-date=2018-12-14|access-date=2020-02-11}}</ref>

====France====
In [[France]], both the Criminal Code and the Labor Code are relevant to the issue of sexual harassment. Until May 4, 2012, article 222-33 of the French Criminal Code described sexual harassment as "The fact of harassing anyone in order to obtain favors of a sexual nature".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000000408905|title=Loi n° 2002–73 du 17 janvier 2002 de modernisation sociale|date=17 January 2002|website=Legifrance|language=fr|trans-title=Art. 179 of the Law no. 2002-73 of 17 January 2002 on social modernization|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180207182819/https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000000408905|archive-date=2018-02-07|access-date=11 February 2020}}</ref> Since 2002, it recognized the possibility of sexual harassment between co-workers and not only by supervisors. On May 4, 2012, the [[Constitutional Council (France)|Supreme Court of France]] quashed the definition of the criminal code as being too vague.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.conseil-constitutionnel.fr/en/decision/2012/2012240QPC.htm|title=Decision no. 2012-240 QPC of May 4, 2012|website=Conseil constitutionnel|language=en|access-date=2020-02-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190602055255/https://www.conseil-constitutionnel.fr/en/decision/2012/2012240QPC.htm|archive-date=June 2, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> The 2012 decision resulted from a law on priority preliminary rulings on the issue of constitutionality. As a consequence of this decision, all pending procedures before criminal courts were cancelled. Several feminist NGOs, such as AFVT, criticized this decision. President [[François Hollande]], the Minister of Justice (Christiane Taubira) and the Minister of Equality (Najat Belkacem) asked that a new law be voted rapidly. As a result, ''LOI n°2012-954 du 6 août 2012'' was voted in, providing a new definition.<ref>[http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichCodeArticle.do?idArticle=LEGIARTI000021796942&cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006070719 "Code pénal: Article 222-33" (in French)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612163504/https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichCodeArticle.do?idArticle=LEGIARTI000021796942&cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006070719 |date=2018-06-12 }}, ''legifrance.gouv.fr''.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fonction-publique.gouv.fr/loi-6-aout-2012-relative-au-harcelement-sexuel|title=Loi du 6 août 2012 relative au harcèlement sexuel|date=20 September 2012|website=Le portail de la Fonction publique [The Civil Service Portal]|language=fr|trans-title=Law of August 6, 2012 on sexual harassment|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191001072531/https://www.fonction-publique.gouv.fr/loi-6-aout-2012-relative-au-harcelement-sexuel|archive-date=1 October 2019|access-date=2020-02-11}}</ref> In addition to criminal provisions, the French Labor code also prohibits sexual harassment.<ref>Act of 2 November 1992</ref> The legislator voted a law in 2008<ref>Act of 27 May 2008</ref> that copied the 2002/73/EC Directive<ref>Directive of 23 September 2002 amending Council Directive 76/207/EEC on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women as regards access to employment, vocational training and promotion, and working conditions</ref><ref>{{Citation|title=Directive 2002/73/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2002 amending Council Directive 76/207/EEC on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women as regards access to employment, vocational training and promotion, and working conditions (Text with EEA relevance)|date=2002-10-05|url=http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2002/73/oj/eng|volume=OJ L|issue=32002L0073|language=en|access-date=2020-02-11|archive-date=2024-05-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518023047/https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2002/73/oj/eng|url-status=live}}</ref> definition without modifying the French Labour Code.

According to Abigail C. Saguy in her book ''What is Sexual Harassment: From Capitol Hill to the Sorbonne'', "According to French penal law, '''sexual''' '''harassment''' is also different from rape and sexual assault in that it does not involve physical contact. Rather, with '''sexual harassment''', economic dependence and official authority alone are used to pressure a person into having sexual relations(pg.24)."

====Germany====
[[File:1833 Neder Im Gasthof anagoria.JPG|thumb|''At the Tavern'', by Johann Michael Neder, 1833, [[Germanisches Nationalmuseum]]]]
In June 2016, the governing coalition decided about the key points of a tightening of the law governing sexual offenses (Sexualstrafrecht, literally: law on the punishment of sexual delicts). On July 7, 2016, the Bundestag passed the resolution<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/bundestag-beschliesst-neues-sexualstrafrecht-a-1101813.html|title=Votum: Bundestag beschließt neues Sexualstrafrecht|date=2016-07-07|journal=Spiegel Online|access-date=2016-07-07|url-status=live|language=de|trans-title=Vote: Bundestag passes new sexual criminal law|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160707120628/http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/bundestag-beschliesst-neues-sexualstrafrecht-a-1101813.html|archive-date=2016-07-07}}</ref> and by fall of that year, the draft bill will be presented to the second chamber, the Bundesrat.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/sexualstrafrecht-alles-was-sie-zu-nein-heisst-nein-wissen-muessen-a-1101658.html|title=Neues Sexualstrafrecht: Nein heißt Nein. Und was bedeutet das jetzt?|date=2016-07-07|journal=Spiegel Online|access-date=2016-07-07|url-status=live|language=de|trans-title=New Sexual Criminal Law: No means No. And what does that mean now?|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180120202657/http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/sexualstrafrecht-alles-was-sie-zu-nein-heisst-nein-wissen-muessen-a-1101658.html|archive-date=2018-01-20}}</ref> By this change, sexual harassment shall become punishable under the ''Sexualstrafrecht''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dw.com/de/nein-hei%C3%9Ft-nein-koalition-reformiert-sexualstrafrecht/a-19336217|title='Nein heißt Nein' – Koalition reformiert Sexualstrafrecht|date=2016-06-16|publisher=Deutsche Welle|language=de|trans-title="No means No" – coalition reforms sexual criminal law|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160617135723/http://www.dw.com/de/nein-hei%C3%9Ft-nein-koalition-reformiert-sexualstrafrecht/a-19336217|archive-date=2016-06-17|access-date=2016-06-18}}</ref>

Now sexual harassment is punishable by law according to § 184i of the law governing sexual offenses. The law only states unwanted physical contact as sexual haressment but has been extended in 2020 to include "cybergrooming" as well.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dejure.org/gesetze/StGB/184i.html|title=Sexuelle Belästigung|access-date=2020-07-10|website=dejure.org|archive-date=2020-08-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807025502/https://dejure.org/gesetze/StGB/184i.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Greece====
In response to the EU Directive 2002/73/EC, [[Greece]] enacted Law 3488/2006 (O.G.A.'.191).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://evaw-global-database.unwomen.org/en/countries/europe/greece/2006/law-3488-2006-on-the-implementation-of-the-principle-of-equal-treatment-of-men-and-women|title=Law 3488/2006: Framework on Equal Treatment of Men and Women|website=Global Database on Violence against Women|publisher=[[United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women|UN Women]]|access-date=2020-02-11|archive-date=2024-05-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518023104/https://data.unwomen.org/evaw/database|url-status=live}}</ref> The law specifies that sexual harassment is a form of gender-based discrimination in the workplace. Victims also have the right to compensation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sgdatabase.unwomen.org/searchDetail.action?measureId%3D10297%26baseHREF%3Dcountry%26baseHREFId%3D563|title=LAW 3488/2006 ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PRINCIPLE OF EQUAL TREATMENT OF MEN AND WOMEN IN THE FIELDS OF ACCESS TO EMPLOYMENT, VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND PROMOTION, TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF WORK|date=7 September 2009|website=The UN Secretary-General's database on violaence against women|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201171917/http://sgdatabase.unwomen.org/searchDetail.action?measureId=10297&baseHREF=country&baseHREFId=563|archive-date=2014-02-01|access-date=2014-01-24}}</ref> Prior to this law, the policy on sexual harassment in Greece was very weak. Sexual harassment was not defined by any law, and victims could only use general laws, which were very poor in addressing the issue.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1408&context=hrbrief|title=The New European Union Directive on Sexual Harassment and Its Implications for Greece|last=Tsekos|first=Mary Ellen|date=2003|website=Human Rights Brief|publisher=Center for Human Rights & Humanitarian Law|access-date=11 February 2020|archive-date=13 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200613233629/https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1408&context=hrbrief|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.intellectum.org/articles/issues/intellectum3/en/ITL03p015025_Sexual%20Harassment%20in%20the%20Greek%20Criminal%20Law_Elissavet%20Symeonidou%20Kastanidou.pdf|title=The Sexual Harassment in Greek Criminal Law (Law 3488/2006)|last=Symeonidou-Kastanidou|first=E.|date=30 May 2007|website=Intellectum|others=Translated by Victor Tsilonis and Danai Roussou|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202101821/http://www.intellectum.org/articles/issues/intellectum3/en/ITL03p015025_Sexual%20Harassment%20in%20the%20Greek%20Criminal%20Law_Elissavet%20Symeonidou%20Kastanidou.pdf|archive-date=2 February 2014|access-date=2 February 2014}}</ref>

====Russia====
As of 2023, there is no formal law in Russia that prohibits or criminalizes repeated sexual harassment or any sexual advancements that result in women or men losing their jobs or some other adverse effects that can be proven in a court of law. Per articles 132-133 of the [[Criminal Code of Russia|Criminal Code of Russian Federation]] (CC RF) only criminal sexual conduct is outlawed, including all non-consensual sex between individuals: [[rape]], sex with underage etc. Per article 133 (previously, Article 118 of CC RF 1990) various kinds of extortion and coercion are also criminalized.<ref name=":0" />

According to the Moscow Center for Gender Studies study published in 1997, practically in all cases authorities did not investigate or enforce these articles.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=http://shsf.invisionzone.com/index.php?s=a1f5e83af0f492d74310d4d1a073b792&showtopic=279|title=Sexual Harassment in Russian Workplaces|last=Khotkina|first=Dr. Zoya|date=25 April 1997|publisher=Moscow Centre for Gender Studies|via=Sexual Harassment Support Forum|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311060132/http://shsf.invisionzone.com/index.php?s=a1f5e83af0f492d74310d4d1a073b792&showtopic=279|archive-date=2007-03-11}}</ref>

In 2008, ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' quoted a survey in which "100 percent of female professionals [in Russia] said they had been subjected to sexual harassment by their bosses, 32 per cent said they had had intercourse with them at least once and another seven per cent claimed to have been raped."<ref>{{cite news |url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/2470310/Sexual-harrassment-okay-as-it-ensures-humans-breed-Russian-judge-rules.html |title = Sexual harassment okay as it ensures humans breed, Russian judge rules |last = Blomfield |first = Adrian |date = 29 Jul 2008 |newspaper = The Daily Telegraph |access-date = 15 July 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110711120823/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/2470310/Sexual-harrassment-okay-as-it-ensures-humans-breed-Russian-judge-rules.html |archive-date = 11 July 2011 |url-status = live }}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=January 2024}}

====Switzerland====
A ban on discrimination was included in the Federal Constitution (Article 4, Paragraph 2 of the old Federal Constitution) in 1981 and adopted in Article 8, paragraph 2 of the revised Constitution. The ban on sexual harassment in the workplace forms part of the Federal Act on Gender Equality (GEA) of 24 March 1995, where it is one of several provisions which prohibit discrimination in employment and which are intended to promote equality. Article 4 of the GEA defines the circumstances, Article 5 legal rights and Article 10 protection against dismissal during the complaints procedure.<ref name="Swiss.gov-2017">{{cite web|url=https://www.admin.ch/opc/en/classified-compilation/19950082/index.html|title=Federal Act on Gender Equality|date=1 January 2017|website=The Federal Council – The Portal of the Swiss Government|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180324102217/https://www.admin.ch/opc/en/classified-compilation/19950082/index.html|archive-date=24 March 2018|access-date=2018-03-23}}</ref> Article 328, paragraph 1 of the Code of Obligations (OR), Article 198 (2) of the Penal Code (StGB) and Article 6, paragraph 1 of the Employment Act (ArG) contain further statutory provisions on the ban on sexual harassment. The ban on sexual harassment is intended exclusively for employers, within the scope of their responsibility for protection of legal personality, mental and physical well-being and health.{{citation needed|date=January 2014}}

Article 4 of the GEA of 1995 discusses the topic of sexual harassment in the workplace: "Any harassing behaviour of a sexual nature or other behaviour related to the person's sex that adversely affects the dignity of women or men in the workplace is discriminatory. Such behaviour includes in particular threats, the promise of advantages, the use of coercion and the exertion of pressure in order to obtain favours of a sexual nature."<ref name="Swiss.gov-2017" />

====United Kingdom====
The Discrimination Act of 1975 was modified to establish sexual harassment as a form of discrimination in 1986.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eoc-law.org.uk/default.aspx?page=4666|title=Strathclyde Regional Council v Porcelli [1986&#93; IRLR 134 Court of Session|work=Equal Opportunities Commission|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080408051338/http://www.eoc-law.org.uk/default.aspx?page=4666|archive-date=8 April 2008}}</ref> It states that harassment occurs where there is unwanted conduct on the ground of a person's sex or unwanted conduct of a sexual nature and that conduct has the purpose or effect of violating a person's dignity, or of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them. If an employer treats someone less favourably because they have rejected, or submitted to, either form of harassment described above, this is also harassment.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eoc.org.uk/Default.aspx?page=15657|title=Sexual Harassment: what the law says|date=2010-08-10|website=Equal Opportunities Commission|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070831002533/http://www.eoc.org.uk/Default.aspx?page=15657|archive-date=August 31, 2007|access-date=2012-10-07}}</ref> In March 2021, a study by UN Women UK found out that 97% of young women 18-24 have experienced some sort of sexual harassment.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-03-10 |title=Four-fifths of young women in the UK have been sexually harassed, survey finds |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/10/almost-all-young-women-in-the-uk-have-been-sexually-harassed-survey-finds |access-date=2022-12-30 |website=The Guardian |language=en |archive-date=2024-05-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518023044/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/10/almost-all-young-women-in-the-uk-have-been-sexually-harassed-survey-finds |url-status=live }}</ref>

Sexual harassment is also now considered discrimination under [[Equality Act 2010|the Equality Act 2010.]] The Equality Act 2010 merged over 116 separate pieces of legislation under one act that protects the rights of citizens and promotes equality for all people.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/equality-act-2010/what-equality-act|title=What is the Equality Act?|publisher=Equality and Human Rights Commission|website=www.equalityhumanrights.com|access-date=2020-04-08|archive-date=2020-03-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200320021852/https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/equality-act-2010/what-equality-act|url-status=dead}}</ref> The new law strengthened the protection of individuals from discrimination in a number of areas. It is designed to protect individuals from discrimination on the basis of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. It covers a wide range of areas, including employment, education, housing, public accommodations, and the provision of goods and services. Under the Equality Act 2010, it is unlawful to discriminate against someone on the basis of any of these protected characteristics. This includes direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, harassment, and victimization. The Act also places a duty on public authorities, such as local councils and government departments, to consider the impact of their policies and decisions on people who have protected characteristics, and to take steps to promote equality of opportunity and to eliminate discrimination.<ref>Maria Khan, and Ayesha Ahmed, "The protection against harassment of women at the workplace act 2010: A legislative review." ''Lahore University of Management Sciences law Journal'' 3 (2016): 91+  [https://scholar.archive.org/work/os3iqu54obhdxblxehylrico5q/access/wayback/https://sahsol.lums.edu.pk/sites/default/files/harassment_of_women.pdf online].</ref>

Although the 2010 Equality Act is in place, many are pushing the UK government to put even more policies in place to stop sexual harassment in the workplace. One group in particular, "This is Not Working", acts because according to recent surveys done by the Women and Equalities Committee, workplace sexual harassment is still very prevalent, even with the current legislation. The movement pushes for even more employers to take responsibility and proactively prevent sexual harassment.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.natlawreview.com/article/not-working-answer-one-consultation-please-uk|title=This is Not Working – the Answer? One Consultation, Please (UK)|website=The National Law Review|language=en|access-date=2020-04-12|archive-date=2020-06-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614105311/https://www.natlawreview.com/article/not-working-answer-one-consultation-please-uk|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Asia ===
==== China ====
In [[China]], the 2005 Law for the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests of the People's Republic of China states "sexual harassment against women is prohibited"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cecc.gov/resources/legal-provisions/protection-of-womens-rights-and-interests-law-of-the-peoples-republic-of|title=Protection of Women's Rights and Interests Law of the People's Republic of China (Chinese and English Text)|website=Congressional-Executive Commission on China|date=28 August 2005 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190418130448/https://www.cecc.gov/resources/legal-provisions/protection-of-womens-rights-and-interests-law-of-the-peoples-republic-of|archive-date=2019-04-18|access-date=2019-04-18}}</ref> although the law does not explicitly define what sexual harassment is.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/legal-and-compliance/employment-law/pages/global-china-anti-harassment-requirements.aspx|title=China: Time to Review Your Policies Against Sexual Harassment|last1=Ligorner|first1=K. Lesli|last2=Wang|first2=Dora|date=2018-08-24|website=SHRM|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-18|archive-date=2019-04-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190418130446/https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/legal-and-compliance/employment-law/pages/global-china-anti-harassment-requirements.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref>

Sexual harassment is still pervasive within Chinese culture. A 2018 survey of female journalists revealed that 80% had experienced unwanted behavior,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2142703/why-chinese-women-dont-speak-out-about-sexual-harassment|title=Why sexual harassment in the workplace goes unreported in China|last=Zuo|first=Mandy|date=2018-04-21|website=South China Morning Post|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190418130448/https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2142703/why-chinese-women-dont-speak-out-about-sexual-harassment|archive-date=2019-04-18|access-date=2019-04-18}}</ref> and an online survey of college students from all 34 [[Provinces of China|provinces]] the same year revealed that 75% of female students and 35% of male students had experienced sexual harassment.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ucanews.com/news/sexual-harassment-common-on-chinese-campuses/82604|title=Sexual harassment common on Chinese campuses|date=June 20, 2018|website=UCA News|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190418130448/https://www.ucanews.com/news/sexual-harassment-common-on-chinese-campuses/82604|archive-date=April 18, 2019|access-date=2019-04-18}}</ref>

==== Lebanon ====
As of 2020, it is estimated that one in four women in [[Lebanon]] have been subjected to some form of unsolicited sexual advance, ranging from verbal to physical.<ref name="Yassine-2020">{{Cite web|last=Yassine|first=Hussein|date=21 December 2020|title=Lebanese Parliament Just Voted To Criminalize Sexual Harassment|url=https://www.the961.com/lebanese-parliament-sexual-harassment/|access-date=21 December 2020|website=The961|language=en-US|archive-date=21 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201221120026/https://www.the961.com/lebanese-parliament-sexual-harassment/|url-status=live}}</ref> On 21 December 2020, the [[Parliament of Lebanon|Lebanese Parliament]] passed a law criminalizing sexual harassment.<ref name="Yassine-2020" /> There was no national legislation to directly criminalize sexual harassment prior, with draft laws being proposed several times without effect.<ref name="Yassine-2020" />

====India====
{{Further|Sexism in India|Eve teasing|The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013}}

Sexual harassment in [[India]] is termed "[[Eve teasing]]" and is described as: unwelcome sexual gesture or behaviour whether directly or indirectly as sexually colored remarks; physical contact and advances; showing pornography; a demand or request for sexual favours; any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct being sexual in nature or passing sexually offensive and unacceptable remarks. The critical factor is the unwelcomeness of the behaviour, thereby making the impact of such actions on the recipient more relevant rather than intent of the perpetrator.<ref name="india_rape" /> According to the [[Indian constitution]], sexual harassment infringes the fundamental right of a woman to gender equality under Article 14 and her right to life and live with dignity under Article 21.<ref name="amicus.iupindia.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.amicus.iupindia.org/Lels_WorkplaceHarassment_ovw.asp|title=ICFAI University – Workplace Harassment|website=Amicus.iupindia.org|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171202183755/http://www.amicus.iupindia.org/Lels_WorkplaceHarassment_ovw.asp|archive-date=2017-12-02|access-date=2012-10-07}}</ref><!-- The archives are only of the domain reselling page -->

In 1997, the [[Supreme Court of India]] in a [[Public Interest Litigation]] defined sexual harassment at workplace, preventive measures and redress mechanism. The judgment is popularly known as Vishaka Judgment.<ref name="Vishaka 001">{{cite journal |url = http://indiankanoon.org/doc/1031794/ |title = Vishaka & Ors vs State Of Rajasthan & Ors on 13 August 1997 |author1=Manohar, SV |author2=Kirpal, BN |journal=Supreme Court of India  |date=August 1997 |volume=241 |id = SCC Ref:(1997)6. SCC 241 : (1997 AIR SCW 3043) |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120605101608/http://indiankanoon.org/doc/1031794/ |archive-date=5 June 2012 }}</ref> In April 2013, India enacted its own law on sexual harassment in the workplace—[[The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013]]. Almost 16 years after the Supreme Court's landmark guidelines on prevention of sexual harassment in the workplace (known as the "[[Vishaka Guidelines]]"), the Act has endorsed many of the guidelines, and is a step towards codifying gender equality. The Act is intended to include all women employees in its ambit, including those employed in the unorganized sector, as well as domestic workers. The Indian law does not permit the victim or complainant to take assistance of a legal professional in the inquiry, however, in Arti Devi Vs Jawaharlal Nehru University,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://indiankanoon.org/doc/195150471/|title=The Redressal of Public Grievances Rules, 1998|work=Indian Kanoon|access-date=2020-02-28|archive-date=2020-02-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200228064147/https://indiankanoon.org/doc/195150471/|url-status=live}}</ref> the High Court of Delhi permitted the complainant to avail the services of a counsel as her defence assistant.

The Act has identified sexual harassment as a violation of the fundamental rights of a woman to equality under articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution of India and her right to life and to live with dignity under article 21 of the Constitution; as well as the right to practice any profession or to carry on any occupation, trade or business which includes a right to a safe environment free from sexual harassment. The Act also states that the protection against sexual harassment and the right to work with dignity are universally recognized human rights by international conventions and instruments such as Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, which has been ratified on the 25th June, 1993 by the Government of India.<ref>[[The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013]]</ref>{{Circular reference|date=February 2020}}

The [[Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013]] introduced changes to the [[Indian Penal Code]], making sexual harassment an expressed offense under Section 354 A, which is punishable up to three years of imprisonment and or with fine. The Amendment also introduced new sections making acts like disrobing a woman without consent, stalking and sexual acts by person in authority an offense.

====Israel====
The 1998 Israeli Sexual Harassment Law interprets sexual harassment broadly, and prohibits the behavior as a discriminatory practice, a restriction of liberty, an offense to human dignity, a violation of every person's right to elementary respect, and an infringement of the right to privacy. Additionally, the law prohibits intimidation or retaliation thus related to sexual harassment are defined by the law as "prejudicial treatment".<ref name="Kamir">{{cite journal | last1 = Kamir | first1 = Orit | title = Israel's 1998 Sexual Harassment Law: Prohibiting Sexual Harassment, Sexual Stalking, and Degradation Based on Sexual Orientation in the Workplace and in all Social Settings | url = http://sitemaker.umich.edu/Orit_Kamir/files/sexharas2.pdf | journal = International Journal of Discrimination and the Law | volume = 2005 | issue = 7 | pages = 315–336 | access-date = 2012-10-07 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151017132743/http://sitemaker.umich.edu/Orit_Kamir/files/sexharas2.pdf | archive-date = 2015-10-17 | url-status = dead }}</ref>

====Japan====
[[File:Chikan Sign.jpg|301x301px|thumb|SexPublic sign in [[Chiba, Chiba|Chiba, Japan]], warning of [[Chikan (body contact)|''chikan'']]]]

The Department of Labor received 11,289 consultations regarding sexual harassment (approximately 60% from female workers, 5% from male workers, and 35% from others) in 2014.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gender.go.jp/about_danjo/whitepaper/h27/zentai/html/zuhyo/zuhyo01-04-14.html |title=都道府県労働局雇用均等室に寄せられた職場におけるセクシュアル・ハラスメントの相談件数 |publisher=内閣府 |language=ja |access-date=2022-08-03 |archive-date=2023-03-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306235221/https://www.gender.go.jp/about_danjo/whitepaper/h27/zentai/html/zuhyo/zuhyo01-04-14.html |url-status=live }}</ref> However, given the generally low rate of reported sexual offenders (about 10%), the [[Dark figure of crime|dark figure]] of sexual harassers is believed to be substantial, with 34.7% of full-time employees experiencing sexual harassment, according to the Japan Institute for Labor Policy and Training.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://apj.aidem.co.jp/current/detail/1352.html |title=妊娠等を理由とする不利益取扱い及びセクシュアルハラスメントに関する実態調査 |publisher=労働政策研究・研修機構 |language=ja |access-date=2022-08-03 |archive-date=2024-05-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518023046/https://apj.aidem.co.jp/current/detail/1352.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

It appeared most dramatically in Japanese discourse in 1989, when a court case in Fukuoka ruled in favor of a woman who had been subjected to the spreading of sexual rumors by a co-worker. When the case was first reported, it spawned a flurry of public interest: 10 books were published, including English-language feminist guidebooks to 'how not to harass women' texts for men.<ref name="Huen">{{cite journal |last1=Huen|first1 = Y. |title=Workplace Sexual Harassment in Japan: A Review of Combating Measures Taken |journal=Asian Survey |year=2007|volume=47|issue=5|pages=811–827 |doi = 10.1525/as.2007.47.5.811 }}</ref> Sekuhara was named 1989's 'Word of the Year'. The case was resolved in the victim's favor in 1992, awarding her about $13,000 in damages, the first sexual harassment lawsuit in Japanese history.<ref name="MacGregor">{{cite news |last = MacGregor |first = Hillary |title = In Japan, Many Men Just Don't Get It : Nation only got word for sexual harassment after '89 court case. |url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-10-13-mn-56533-story.html |newspaper = Los Angeles Times |access-date = 26 October 2015 |date = 13 October 1995 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160105082011/http://articles.latimes.com/1995-10-13/news/mn-56533_1_sexual-harassment/2 |archive-date = 5 January 2016 |url-status = live }}</ref> Laws then established two forms of sexual harassment: ''taika-gata'', in which rewards or penalties are explicitly linked to sexual acts, and ''kankyo-gata'', in which the environment is made unpleasant through sexual talk or jokes, touching, or hanging sexually explicit posters.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/koyou_roudou/koyoukintou/seisaku06/index.html#h2_free5 |title=職場におけるセクシュアルハラスメントについて |publisher=厚生労働省 |language=ja |access-date=2022-08-03 |archive-date=2022-08-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220802222316/https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/koyou_roudou/koyoukintou/seisaku06/index.html#h2_free5 |url-status=live }}</ref> This applies to everyone in an office, including customers.<ref name="Huen" />

====Malaysia====
{{main|Sexual harassment in Malaysia}}

In Malaysia, sexual harassment as defined by the [http://www.agc.gov.my/agcportal/uploads/files/Publications/LOM/EN/Act%20265%20-%20Employment%20Act%201955.pdf Employment Act 1955] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111235552/http://www.agc.gov.my/agcportal/uploads/files/Publications/LOM/EN/Act%20265%20-%20Employment%20Act%201955.pdf |date=2020-11-11 }}, is "any unwanted conduct of a sexual nature, whether verbal, non-verbal, visual, gestural or physical, directed at a person which is offensive, humiliating or a threat to their well-being". The Act does not distinguish between male and female or employer and employee. As such, sexual harassment can be committed by a female against a male, or an employee against an employer.

Sexual harassment is common, and since 2010 trains on the Malaysian Railway have included pink-colored [[women-only passenger car|women-only cars]] as a means of cutting down on it.<ref name="buses">{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna40468372|title=Women-only buses aim to halt sex harassment|work=NBC News|date=2 December 2010|access-date=9 June 2017|archive-date=21 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021054650/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/40468372/ns/world_news-asia_pacific/t/women-only-buses-aim-halt-sex-harassment/|url-status=live}}</ref> There are also women-only buses in Kuala Lumpur since 2010.<ref name="buses" /> In 2011, the government launched a women-only taxi service in the greater Kuala Lumpur area.<ref name="taxis">{{cite web|url=http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/11/27/179417.html|title=Malaysia launches women-only taxis, hoping to reduce number of rape and robbery cases|work=Agence France-Presse|publisher=Al Arabiya News|date=27 November 2011|access-date=9 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171004034930/http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/11/27/179417.html|archive-date=4 October 2017|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The taxis have women drivers, and operate on an on-call basis.<ref name="taxis" />

==== New Zealand ====
In 2018, Statistics New Zealand published the Survey of Working Life findings, which queried employed individuals about their work schedules, employment circumstances, and level of job satisfaction and work-life balance. 9% of males and 14% of women reported having dealt with bullying, harassment, or discrimination at work in the preceding year.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Continued reports of sexual harassment, assault and bullying at work; steps towards change {{!}} New Zealand Family Violence Clearinghouse |url=https://nzfvc.org.nz/news/continued-reports-sexual-harassment-assault-and-bullying-work-steps-towards-change |access-date=2023-09-30 |website=nzfvc.org.nz |archive-date=2023-10-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231020130128/https://nzfvc.org.nz/news/continued-reports-sexual-harassment-assault-and-bullying-work-steps-towards-change |url-status=live }}</ref> Any invitation for sexual activity, whether direct or indirect, is considered sexual harassment according to the Employment Relations Act of 2000.  The individual harassing the victim may be a boss, an employee, a volunteer, a coworker, an employer's representative, or even a customer, contractor, or supplier who is not an employee.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What is sexual harassment |url=https://www.employment.govt.nz/resolving-problems/types-of-problems/bullying-harassment-and-discrimination/sexual-harassment/what-is-sexual-harassment/ |access-date=2023-09-30 |website=Employment New Zealand |language=en-NZ |archive-date=2023-10-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231020132734/https://www.employment.govt.nz/resolving-problems/types-of-problems/bullying-harassment-and-discrimination/sexual-harassment/what-is-sexual-harassment/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, the duties of PCBU (person undertaking a business or undertaking) responsibility according to the act 36, subpart 2, Duties of PCBU is

·       “The provision and maintenance of a work environment that is without risks to health and safety”; and

·       “The provision and maintenance of safe plant and structures”; and

·       “The provision and maintenance of safe systems of work”; and

·       “The safe use, handling, and storage of plants, substances, and structures”.<ref>{{Cite web |title=New Zealand legislation |url=https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2015/0070/latest/DLM5976894.html#DLM5976894 |access-date=2023-09-30 |archive-date=2023-08-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230812161708/https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2015/0070/latest/DLM5976894.html#DLM5976894 |url-status=live }}</ref>

As per the Employment Relations Act 2000, it is possible for you to file a personal grievance. A worker may file a personal grievance against their employer. You have 12 months from the date when the assault happened or became aware of your knowledge, whichever comes first.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Steps for workers to address sexual harassment |url=https://www.employment.govt.nz/resolving-problems/types-of-problems/bullying-harassment-and-discrimination/sexual-harassment/steps-for-workers-to-address-sexual-harassment/ |access-date=2023-09-30 |website=Employment New Zealand |language=en-NZ |archive-date=2023-10-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231020212630/https://www.employment.govt.nz/resolving-problems/types-of-problems/bullying-harassment-and-discrimination/sexual-harassment/steps-for-workers-to-address-sexual-harassment/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Employment Relations (Extended Time for Personal Grievance for Sexual Harassment) Amendment Act 2023 and, section 54 amended states, an explanation in simple terms of the resources that are available for resolving issues with relationships at work, in relation to the 12-month period that must pass before filing a personal grievance under section 114(1) if the grievance relates to sexual harassment under section 103(1)(d).<ref>{{Cite web |title=New Zealand Legislation |url=https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2023/0028/latest/LMS577477.html |website=New Zealand Legislation |access-date=2023-09-30 |archive-date=2023-07-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701094045/https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2023/0028/latest/LMS577477.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Human Rights Act 1993 under 62 sexual harassment states that, in the course of engaging in any of the activities covered by the provisions of subsection (3), it is illegal for anyone to ask another person for sexual relations, sexual contact, or any other type of sexual activity when doing so contains an implicit or overt guarantee of favorable treatment. During one's engagement in each of the areas where subsection (3) applies, it is forbidden for an individual to subject another individual to the conduct of the actions that follow:

(a) a conduct that is unwanted or offensive to that individual (regardless of whether that is communicated to the first-mentioned individual); and

(b) an act that is either repeated or of a significant nature as to negatively impact that individual in relation to any of the regions where subsection (3) applies.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Human rights act 1993 |url=https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1993/0082/latest/DLM304651.html |website=New Zealand Legislation |access-date=2023-09-30 |archive-date=2024-02-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240215200435/https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1993/0082/latest/DLM304651.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Pakistan ====
Pakistan introduced the [[Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act, 2010|''Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act'']] in 2010. This law defines the act of harassment as. "[A]ny unwelcome sexual advance, request for sexual favors or other verbal or written communication or physical conduct of a sexual nature or sexually demeaning attitude, causing interference with work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment, or the attempt to punish the complainant for refusal to such a request or is made a condition for employment." Pakistan adopted a Code of Conduct for Gender Justice in the Workplace that will deal with cases of sexual harassment. The [[Alliance Against Sexual Harassment]] (AASHA) announced they would be working with the committee{{Clarify|reason=What committee?|date=August 2021}} to establish guidelines for the proceedings. AASHA defines sexual harassment similarly to the United States.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aasha.org.pk/ |title=Alliance Against Sexual Harassment |publisher=AASHA |access-date=2012-10-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025235625/http://www.aasha.org.pk/ |archive-date=2012-10-25 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=February 2020}}

====Philippines====
The Anti-Sexual Harassment Act of 1995 was enacted:<ref>{{cite web |url = http://filipiniana.net/read_content.jsp?filename=L00000000018 |title = Republic Act No. 7877 Anti Sexual Harassment Act of 1995 |website = Filipiniana.net |access-date=2012-10-07 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://archive.today/20120713063240/http://filipiniana.net/read_content.jsp?filename=L00000000018 |archive-date=2012-07-13 }}</ref>

<blockquote>primarily to protect and respect the dignity of workers, employees, and applicants for employment as well as students in educational institutions or training centers. This law, consisting of ten sections, provides for a clear definition of work, education or training-related sexual harassment and specifies the acts constituting sexual harassment. It likewise provides for the duties and liabilities of the employer in cases of sexual harassment, and sets penalties for violations of its provisions. A victim of sexual harassment is not barred from filing a separate and independent action for damages and other relief aside from filing the charge for sexual harassment.</blockquote>

Assistant Solicitor General Derek Puertollano was dismissed from service over 3 administrative charges for violations of RA 7877 "The Anti-Sexual Harassment Act of 1995" filed by a complaint from his legal interns. He was convicted of the grave offense of sexual harassment through unwanted touching of private part of the body, and the less grave offenses of sexual harassment through unwanted touching or brushing against a victim's body, and through surreptitiously looking at a person's private part. "These harrowing incidents left complainants traumatized, scarring them both for life,” said [[Lucas Bersamin]] in his decision dated February 20, 2024. [[Menardo Guevarra]] appointed an OIC to the vacated legal division.<ref>{{cite news |last1= Buan |first1= Lian|title=Malacañang fires assistant solicitor general for sexual harassment|url= https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/inside-track/malacanang-fires-assistant-solicitor-general-for-sexual-harassment/|accessdate=February 27, 2024 |publisher= [[Rappler]]|date=February 27, 2024}}</ref>

===United States===
====Evolution of sexual harassment law====
=====Workplace=====
{{main|Sexual harassment in the workplace in the United States}}

In the United States, the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]] prohibits [[employment discrimination]] based on [[Race (classification of human beings)|race]], [[sex]], [[color]], [[national origin]] or [[religion]]. {{UnitedStatesCode|42|2000e-2}} was initially intended to only combat sexual harassment of women, but the prohibition of [[sex discrimination]] covers both men and women. This discrimination occurs when the sex of the worker is made as a condition of employment (i.e. all female waitpersons or male carpenters) or where this is a job requirement that does not mention sex but ends up preventing many more persons of one sex than the other from the job (such as height and weight limits). This act only applies to employers with 15 or more employees.<ref name="EEOC-2018">{{Cite web |title=Sexual Harassment |url=https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/sexual_harassment.cfm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180308120009/https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/sexual_harassment.cfm |archive-date=2018-03-08 |access-date=2020-02-11 |website=U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission}}</ref>

''[[Barnes v. Train]]'' (1974) is commonly viewed as the first sexual harassment case in America, even though the term "sexual harassment" was not used.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wendymcelroy.com/ifeminists/2004/1027.html|title=The Sad Evolution of Sexual Harassment|last=McElroy|first=Wendy|date=October 27, 2004|website=ifeminists.com|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807125033/http://www.wendymcelroy.com/ifeminists/2004/1027.html|archive-date=August 7, 2011|access-date=2020-02-11}}</ref> In 1976, ''Williams v. Saxbe'' established sexual harassment as a form of sex discrimination when sexual advances by a male supervisor towards a female employee, if proven, would be deemed an artificial barrier to employment placed before one gender and not another. In 1980 the [[Equal Employment Opportunity Commission]] (EEOC) issued regulations defining sexual harassment and stating it was a form of sex discrimination prohibited by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In the 1986 case of ''[[Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson]]'', the Supreme Court first recognized "sexual harassment" as a violation of Title VII, established the standards for analyzing whether the conduct was welcome and levels of employer [[legal liability|liability]], and that speech or conduct in itself can create a "[[hostile environment sexual harassment|hostile environment]]".<ref>{{caselaw source |case=''Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson'', 477 U.S. 57 (1986) |findlaw=http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=CASE&court=US&vol=477&page=57 |justia=http://supreme.justia.com/us/477/57/case.html}}</ref> This case filed by Mechelle Vinson ruled that the sexual conduct between the subordinate and supervisor could not be deemed voluntary due to the hierarchical relationship between the two positions in the workplace.<ref>{{Cite book |title = Women and the law stories |year=2011|publisher=Foundation Press/Thomson Reuters |last1= Schneider |first1 = Elizabeth M. |last2 = Wildman |first2 = Stephanie M. |isbn = 978-1599415895 |location=New York, NY |oclc = 671639786 }}</ref> Following the ruling in ''[[Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson]]'', reported sexual harassment cases grew from 10 cases being registered by the [[Equal Employment Opportunity Commission|EEOC]] per year before 1986 to 624 case being reported in the subsequent following year.<ref name="Cochran-2004">{{cite book |title=Sexual harassment and the law : the Mechelle Vinson case |last=Cochran |first=Augustus B. |year=2004 |publisher=University Press of Kansas |isbn=978-0700613236 |location=Lawrence, KS |oclc=53284947 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/sexualharassment0000coch }}</ref> This number of reported cases to the EEOC rose to 2,217 in 1990 and then 4,626 by 1995.<ref name="Cochran-2004" />

The [[Civil Rights Act of 1991]] added provisions to Title VII protections including expanding the rights of women to sue and collect compensatory and punitive [[damages]] for sexual discrimination or harassment, and the case of ''Ellison v. Brady'' (US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit – 924 F.2d 872 (9th Cir. 1991)) resulted in rejecting the [[reasonable person]] standard in favor of the "reasonable woman standard" which allowed for cases to be analyzed from the perspective of the complainant and not the defendant.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://shsf.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic%3D445 |title=Sexual Harassment Support Forum |access-date=2006-07-19 |url-status = dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070310223845/http://shsf.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=445 |archive-date=2007-03-10 }}{{full citation needed|date=December 2013}}</ref> However, some legal scholars have argued this does not go far enough and that the reasonable person standard also needs to take [[intersectionality]] into account.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Onwuachi-Willig |first1=Angela |author-link=Angela Onwuachi-Willig |title=What About #UsToo?: The Invisibility of Race in the #MeToo Movement |journal=Yale Law Journal Forum |date=18 June 2018 |volume=128 |page=109 |url=https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1331&context=faculty_scholarship |access-date=10 February 2020 |archive-date=21 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200221161738/https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1331&context=faculty_scholarship |url-status=live }}</ref> Also in 1991, ''[[Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co.]]'' became the first sexual harassment case to be given [[class action]] status paving the way for others. Seven years later, in 1998, through that same case, new precedents were established that increased the limits on the "[[Discovery (law)|discovery]]" process in sexual harassment cases, that then allowed psychological injuries from the [[litigation]] process to be included in assessing damages awards. In the same year, the courts concluded in ''Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, Florida'', and ''[[Burlington v. Ellerth]]'', that employers are liable for harassment by their employees.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=000&invol=97-282 |title=U.S Supreme Court: Beth Ann Faragher, petitioner v. City of Boca Raton |work=FindLaw |date=June 26, 1998 |access-date=2012-10-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110624090220/http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=000&invol=97-282 |archive-date=June 24, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=000&invol=97-569 |title = U.S. Supreme Court: Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth |work = FindLaw |date = June 26, 1998 |access-date = 2012-10-07 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110624090225/http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=000&invol=97-569 |archive-date = June 24, 2011 |url-status = live }}</ref> Moreover, ''[[Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services]]'' set the precedent for same-sex harassment, and sexual harassment without motivation of "sexual desire", stating that any discrimination based on sex is actionable so long as it places the victim in an objectively disadvantageous working condition, regardless of the gender of either the victim, or the harasser.

In the 2006 case of ''[[Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. White]]'', the standard for retaliation against a sexual harassment complainant was revised to include any adverse employment decision or treatment that would be likely to dissuade a "reasonable worker" from making or supporting a charge of discrimination.

During 2007 alone, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and related state agencies received 12,510 new charges of sexual harassment on the job.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Marshall |first1=David  |last2=Andronici |first2 = Justine |title=Sexual Harassment Law: A Brief Introduction for New Practitioners |url = http://www.kmblegal.com/index.php/160/Sexual_Harassment_Law_A_Brief_Introduction_for_New_Practitioners |publisher=Katz, Marshall & Banks |access-date=18 March 2011|date=23 October 2008 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090203063912/http://www.kmblegal.com/index.php/160/Sexual_Harassment_Law_A_Brief_Introduction_for_New_Practitioners |archive-date=3 February 2009 }}</ref> In ''Astra USA v. Bildman'', 914 N.E.2d 36 (Mass. 2009), applying New York's [[faithless servant]] doctrine, the court held that a company's employee who had engaged in financial misdeeds and sexual harassment must "forfeit all of his salary and bonuses for the period of disloyalty."<ref name="auto6x">{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3RaGDwAAQBAJ&q=%22faithless+servant%22&pg=PA472|title=Employment Law: Private Ordering and Its Limitations |first1=Timothy P. |last1=Glynn |first2=Rachel S.|last2=Arnow-Richman |first3=Charles A. |last3=Sullivan |year = 2019 |publisher=Wolters Kluwer Law & Business |via=Google Books |isbn=9781543801064 }}</ref> The court held that this was the case even if the employee "otherwise performed valuable services", and that the employee was not entitled to recover restitution for the value of those other services.<ref name="auto6x" /><ref>{{cite journal |title=Faithless Servants Beware: Massachusetts Forfeiture Law is More Severe than Astra USA, Inc. v. Bildman Might Suggest |first1=James R.|last1=Carroll|first2=Jason Collins|last2=Weida|journal=Boston Bar Journal |issue = Winter 2010 |date=January 1, 2010 |ssrn = 1775205}}</ref>

The 2010 case, ''[[Reeves v. C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc.]]'' ruled that a hostile work environment can be created in a workplace where sexually explicit language and [[pornography]] are present. A [[hostile workplace]] may exist even if it is not targeted at any particular employee.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.employmentlawblog.info/2010/01/reeves-v-ch-robinson-worldwide-inc-no-07-10270-11th-cir-jan-20-2010.shtml|title=Reeves v. C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc., No. 07-10270 (11th Cir. Jan. 20, 2010)|last=Mollica|first=Paul|date=January 19, 2010|website=Employment Law Blog|publisher=Outten & Golden LLP|language=en-US|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160521135648/http://www.employmentlawblog.info/2010/01/reeves-v-ch-robinson-worldwide-inc-no-07-10270-11th-cir-jan-20-2010.shtml|archive-date=May 21, 2016|access-date=2016-06-17}}</ref>

From 2010 through 2016, approximately 17% of sexual harassment complaints filed with the EEOC were made by men.<ref>{{cite web|title=Charges Alleging Sex-Based Harassment (Charges filed with EEOC) FY 2010 – FY 2016|url=https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/enforcement/sexual_harassment_new.cfm|website=Equal Employment Opportunity Commission|access-date=15 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170815232935/https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/enforcement/sexual_harassment_new.cfm|archive-date=15 August 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

=====Education=====
{{Main|Sexual harassment in education in the United States}}

[[Title IX]] of the Education Amendments of 1972 (United States) states "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."

In ''Franklin v. Gwinnett County Public Schools'' (1992), the U.S. Supreme Court held that private citizens could collect damage awards when teachers sexually harassed their students.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0503_0060_ZS.html |title=Franklin v. Gwinnett County Public Schools |publisher=Legal Information Institute |date=February 26, 1992 |access-date=2012-10-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025214756/http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0503_0060_ZS.html |archive-date=October 25, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> In ''Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser'' (1986), the courts ruled that schools have the power to discipline students if they use "obscene, profane language or gestures" which could be viewed as substantially interfering with the educational process, and inconsistent with the "fundamental values of public school education".<ref>{{cite web |first = Doug |last = Linder |url = http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/firstamendment/bethel.html |title = Bethel School District v. Fraser |website = Law.umkc.edu |access-date = 2012-10-07 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120927043125/http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/firstamendment/bethel.html |archive-date = 2012-09-27 |url-status = live }}</ref> Under regulations issued in 1997 by the U.S. [[United States Department of Education|Department of Education]], which administers [[Title IX]], school districts should be held responsible for harassment by educators if the harasser "was aided in carrying out the sexual harassment of students by his or her position of authority with the institution."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/sexhar00.html|title=Sexual Harassment Guidance|date=13 March 1997|website=Office for Civil Rights|publisher=U.S. Department of Education|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120919234735/http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/sexhar00.html|archive-date=19 September 2012|access-date=2012-10-07}}</ref> In ''Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education'', and ''Murrell v. School Dist. No. 1'', 1999, schools were assigned liability for peer-to-peer sexual harassment if the plaintiff sufficiently demonstrated that the administration's response shows "deliberate indifference" to "actual knowledge" of discrimination.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=000&invol=97-843 |title=Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education |work=FindLaw |date=May 24, 1999 |access-date=2012-10-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024014255/http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=000&invol=97-843 |archive-date=October 24, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-10th-circuit/1261260.html|title=MURRELL v. ACLU IX|last=United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.|date=4 August 1999|website=FindLaw|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160320050213/http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-10th-circuit/1261260.html|archive-date=20 March 2016|access-date=11 February 2020}}</ref>

====Additionally====
There are a number of legal options for a complainant in the U.S.: [[mediation]], filing with the EEOC or filing a claim under a [[U.S. state|state]] Fair Employment Practices (FEP) statute (both are for workplace sexual harassment), filing a common law [[tort]], etc.<ref name="whattodo">{{cite web|url=http://www.feminist.org/911/harasswhatdo.html|title=Sexual Harassment Fact Sheet: What to Do if You or Someone You Know is Sexually Harassed|date=2014|publisher=Feminist Majority Foundation|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020062451/http://www.feminist.org/911/harasswhatdo.html|archive-date=2012-10-20|access-date=2012-10-07}}</ref> Not all sexual harassment will be considered severe enough to form the basis for a legal claim. However, most often there are several types of harassing behaviors present, and there is no minimum level for harassing conduct under the law.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> The section below "EEOC Definition" describes the legal definitions that have been created for sexual harassment in the workplace. Definitions similar to the EEOC definition have been created for academic environments in the U.S. Department of Education Sexual Harassment Guidance.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/shguide.html |title=Revised Sexual Harassment Guidance |publisher=Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education |date=January 19, 2001 |access-date=2012-10-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120919234743/http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/shguide.html |archive-date=September 19, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref>

====EEOC Definition====
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claims that it is unlawful to harass an applicant or employee of any sex in the workplace. The harassment could include sexual harassment. The EEOC says that the victim and harasser could be any gender and that the other does not have to be of the opposite sex. The law does not ban offhand comments, simple teasing, or incidents that are not very serious. If the harassment gets to the point where it creates a harsh work environment, it will be taken care of.<ref name="eeoc"/> In 1980, the [[Equal Employment Opportunity Commission]] produced a set of guidelines for defining and enforcing Title VII (in 1984 it was expanded to include educational institutions). The EEOC defines sexual harassment as:

Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when:

# Submission to such conduct was made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual's employment,
# Submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual was used as the basis for employment decisions affecting such individual, or
# Such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment.

1. and 2. are called "[[quid pro quo]]" (Latin for "this for that" or "something for something"). They are essentially "sexual bribery", or promising of benefits, and "sexual coercion".

Type 3. known as "[[hostile work environment]]", is by far the most common form. This form is less clear cut and is more subjective.<ref name="webcom" />

'''Note:''' A workplace harassment complainant ''must'' file with the EEOC and receive a "right to sue" clearance, before they can file a lawsuit against a company in federal court.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

=====''Quid pro quo'' sexual harassment=====
[[File:Stop à la violence sexiste au travail.jpg|thumb|right|[[International Trade Union Confederation]] (2015–2017)]]

Quid pro quo means "this for that". In the workplace, this occurs when a job benefit is directly tied to an employee submitting to unwelcome sexual advances. For example, a supervisor promises an employee a raise if he or she will go out on a date with him or her, or tells an employee he or she will be fired if he or she does not sleep with him or her.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abanet.org/publiced/practical/sexualharassment_quidproquo.html|title=The Law & Your Job: What is quid pro quo harassment?|date=March 18, 2013|publisher=American Bar Association|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090209001311/http://www.abanet.org/publiced/practical/sexualharassment_quidproquo.html|archive-date=February 9, 2009|access-date=2012-10-07}}</ref> Quid pro quo harassment also occurs when an employee makes an evaluative decision, or provides or withholds professional opportunities based on another employee's submission to verbal, nonverbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. Quid pro quo harassment is equally unlawful whether the victim resists and suffers the threatened harm or submits and thus avoids the threatened harm.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sexualharassmentsupport.org/SHworkplace.html|title=Sexual Harassment in the Workplace|website=Sexual Harassment Support|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100402083730/http://www.sexualharassmentsupport.org/SHworkplace.html|archive-date=2 April 2010}}</ref>

===== Hostile environment sexual harassment=====
{{Main|Hostile work environment}}

This occurs when an employee is subjected to comments of a sexual nature, unwelcome physical contact, or offensive sexual materials as a regular part of the work environment. For the most part, a single isolated incident will not be enough to prove hostile environment harassment unless it involves extremely outrageous and egregious conduct. The courts will try to decide whether the conduct is both "serious" and "frequent". Supervisors, managers, co-workers and even customers can be responsible for creating a hostile environment.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abanet.org/publiced/practical/sexualharassment_hostileenvironment.html|title=The Law & Your Job: What is hostile environment harassment?|date=March 18, 2013|publisher=American Bar Association|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090802171805/http://www.abanet.org/publiced/practical/sexualharassment_hostileenvironment.html|archive-date=August 2, 2009|access-date=2012-10-07}}</ref>

The line between "[[quid pro quo]]" and "hostile environment" harassment is not always clear and the two forms of harassment often occur together. For example, an employee's job conditions are affected when a sexually hostile work environment results in a constructive discharge. At the same time, a supervisor who makes sexual advances toward a subordinate employee may communicate an implicit threat to retaliate against her if she does not comply.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/currentissues.html|title=Policy Guidance on Current Issues of Sexual Harassment|date=19 March 1990|publisher=U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190910004803/https://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/currentissues.html|archive-date=10 September 2019|access-date=12 February 2020}}</ref>

<blockquote>"Hostile environment" harassment may acquire characteristics of "quid pro quo" harassment if the offending supervisor abuses his authority over employment decisions to force the victim to endure or participate in the sexual conduct. Sexual harassment may culminate in a retaliatory discharge if a victim tells the harasser or her employer she will no longer submit to the harassment, and is then fired in retaliation for this protest. Under these circumstances it would be appropriate to conclude that both harassment and retaliation in violation of section 704(a) of Title VII have occurred.</blockquote>

=====Sexual orientation discrimination=====
In the United States, there are no federal laws prohibiting discrimination against employees based on their sexual orientation. However, [[Executive Order 13087]], signed by President Bill Clinton, outlaws discrimination based on sexual orientation against federal government employees. If a small business owner owns his or her business in a state where there is a law against sexual orientation discrimination, the owner must abide to the law regardless of there not being a federal law. Twenty states and the District of Columbia have laws against this form of discrimination in the workplace. These states include California, Connecticut, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.<ref>{{cite web|title=Non-Discrimination Laws|url=http://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/non_discrimination_laws|website=MAP|publisher=Movement Advancement Project|access-date=15 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170814110642/http://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/non_discrimination_laws|archive-date=14 August 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> For example, California has laws in place to protect employees who may have been discriminated against based upon sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation. California law prohibits discrimination against those "with traits not stereotypically associated with their gender", such as mannerisms, appearance, or speech. Sexual orientation discrimination comes up, for instance, when employers enforce a dress code, permit women to wear makeup but not men, or require men and women to only use restrooms designated for their particular sex regardless of whether they are transgender.

=====Retaliation=====
Retaliation has occurred when an employee suffers a ''negative action'' after he or she has made a report of sexual harassment, file a grievance, assist someone else with a complaint, or participate in discrimination prevention activities. Negative actions can include being fired, demotion, suspension, denial of promotion, poor evaluation, unfavorable job reassignment—any adverse employment decision or treatment that would be likely to dissuade a "reasonable worker" from making or supporting a charge of discrimination. (See ''Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. White''.)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://docket.medill.northwestern.edu/archives/003256.php|title=Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. White, Sheila|date=December 5, 2005|website=Medill Journalism|via=Northwestern University|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060614052101/http://docket.medill.northwestern.edu/archives/003256.php|archive-date=2006-06-14|access-date=2006-07-10}}</ref> Retaliation is as illegal as the sexual harassment itself, but also as difficult to prove. Also, retaliation is illegal even if the original charge of sexual harassment was not proven.

=====New Jersey=====
New Jersey was historically known to have one of the strongest anti-sexual harassment laws in the United States. The Law Against Discrimination used to hold an employer liable if the sexual harassment was done by a member of upper-level management.{{Citation needed|date=March 2019}} In 2015, the New Jersey Supreme Court modified the precedence in the State of New Jersey and prevented the company from being liable if they had a well-published and enforced anti-harassment policy. Accordingly, if a policy existed and was enforced, the victim or witness to the sexual harassment would need to complain about the conduct. The company would not be liable if they investigate the matter and take some remedial measures to make sure that the harassment stops. The company only becomes liable if the activity occurs again. (See ''Aguas v. NJ''.)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/nj-supreme-court/1692580.html|title=Aguas vs State|last=Supreme Court of New Jersey|date=February 11, 2015|website=Findlaw|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190922162731/https://caselaw.findlaw.com/nj-supreme-court/1692580.html|archive-date=22 September 2019|access-date=12 February 2020}}</ref>{{primary source inline|date=March 2019}}

=====Military=====
In January 2022, sexual harassment was made illegal under U.S. military law under an executive order by president [[Joe Biden]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Chappell|first=Bill|date=2022-01-27|title=Vanessa Guillén's murder led the U.S. to deem military sexual harassment a crime|language=en|work=NPR|url=https://www.npr.org/2022/01/27/1076143481/vanessa-guillen-murder-military-sexual-harassment-crime|access-date=2022-01-28|archive-date=2022-01-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220127212542/https://www.npr.org/2022/01/27/1076143481/vanessa-guillen-murder-military-sexual-harassment-crime|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Criticism ==
Though the phrase ''sexual harassment'' is generally acknowledged to include clearly damaging and morally deplorable behavior, its boundaries can be broad and controversial. Accordingly, misunderstandings can occur. In the US, sexual harassment law has been criticized by persons such as the [[criminal defense lawyer]] [[Alan Dershowitz]] and the legal writer and [[Libertarianism|libertarian]] [[Eugene Volokh]], for imposing limits on the right to [[free speech]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Volokh |first=Eugene |url=http://www.law.ucla.edu/volokh/harass/ |title=Freedom of Speech vs. Workplace Harassment Law — A Growing Conflict |publisher=UCLA Law School |access-date=2012-10-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121028060846/http://www2.law.ucla.edu/volokh/harass/ |archive-date=2012-10-28 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Jana Rave, professor in organizational studies at the [[Queen's School of Business]], criticized sexual harassment policy in the ''[[Ottawa Business Journal]]'' as helping maintain archaic stereotypes of women as "delicate, asexual creatures" who require special protection when at the same time complaints are lowering company profits.<ref name="janaraver">{{Cite web|url=http://www.obj.ca/Other/Archives/2005-08-10/article-2233666/Sexual-harassment%3A-Poisoning-profit-prospects/1|title=Sexual Harassment: Poisoning profit prospects|last=Jeff|first=Esau|date=August 10, 2005|website=Ottawa Business Journal|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020062419/http://www.obj.ca/Other/Archives/2005-08-10/article-2233666/Sexual-harassment%3A-Poisoning-profit-prospects/1|archive-date=20 October 2012|access-date=3 March 2012}}</ref> [[Camille Paglia]] says that young girls can end up acting in such ways as to make sexual harassment easier, such that for example, by acting "nice" they can become a target. Paglia commented in an interview with ''[[Playboy]]'', "Realize the degree to which your niceness may invoke people to say lewd and pornographic things to you—sometimes to violate your niceness. The more you blush, the more people want to do it."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://privat.ub.uib.no/bubsy/playboy.htm|title=Playboy interview, Camille Paglia|date=May 1995|publisher=Playboy|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060622065038/http://privat.ub.uib.no/bubsy/playboy.htm|archive-date=22 June 2006}}</ref>

Other critics assert that sexual harassment is a very serious problem, but current views focus too heavily on sexuality rather than on the type of conduct that undermines the ability of women or men to work together effectively. Viki Shultz, a law professor at [[Yale University]] comments, "Many of the most prevalent forms of harassment are designed to maintain work—particularly the more highly rewarded lines of work—as bastions of male competence and authority."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.aaup.org/publications/Academe/1998/98so/SO98Alg.HTM|title=Love, Lust, and the Law Sexual Harassment in the Academy|last=Alger|first=Jonathan R.|website=American Association of University Professors|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060203104653/http://www.aaup.org/publications/Academe/1998/98so/SO98Alg.HTM|archive-date=February 3, 2006}}</ref> Feminist [[Jane Gallop]] sees this evolution of the definition of sexual harassment as coming from a "split" between what she calls "[[power feminist]]s" who are [[pro-sex]] (like herself) and what she calls "[[victim feminist]]s", who are not. She argues that the split has helped lead to a ''perversion'' of the definition of sexual harassment, which used to be about sexism but has come to be about anything that is sexual.<ref>Gallop, Jane. ''[https://archive.org/details/feministaccusedo00gall Feminist Accused of Sexual Harassment]''.{{page needed|date=October 2012}} Duke University Press, 1997. {{ISBN|978-0-8223-1918-4}}.</ref>

There is also concern over abuses of sexual harassment policy by individuals as well as by employers and administrators using false or frivolous accusations as a way of expelling employees they want to eliminate for other reasons. These employees often have virtually no recourse thanks to the [[at-will]] law in most US states.<ref>Westhues, Kenneth. ''Eliminating Professors: A Guide to the Dismissal Process''. Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1998. {{ISBN|978-0-7734-8210-4}}.{{page needed|date=October 2012}}</ref>

O'Donohue and Bowers outlined 14 possible pathways to false allegations of sexual harassment: "lying, borderline personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder, psychosis, gender prejudice, substance abuse, dementia, false memories, false interpretations, biased interviews, sociopathy, personality disorders not otherwise specified."<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1002/jip.43 |title=Pathways to false allegations of sexual harassment |year=2006 |last1=O'Donohue |first1=William |last2=Bowers |first2=Adrian H. |journal=Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling |volume=3 |pages=47–74 }}</ref>

There is also discussion of whether some recent trends towards more revealing clothing and permissive habits have created a more sexualized general environment, in which some forms of communication are unfairly labeled harassment, but are simply a reaction to greater sexualization in everyday environments.<ref>Parker, Kathleen. "[http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/2008/06/30/2008-06-30_save_the_males_ho_culture_lights_fuses_b.html 'Save the males': Ho culture lights fuses, but confuses] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080702013450/http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/2008/06/30/2008-06-30_save_the_males_ho_culture_lights_fuses_b.html |date=2008-07-02 }}." ''New York Daily News''. June 30, 2008. Based on ''Save the Males'' by Kathleen Parker, 2008, Random House.</ref>

There are many debates about how organizations should deal with sexual harassment. Some observers feel strongly that organizations should be held to a zero tolerance standard of "Must report—must investigate—must punish."

Others write that those who feel harassed should in most circumstances have a choice of options.<ref name="maryrowe"/><ref name="DoiBFMissing" /><ref>{{cite book|last1=Rowe|first1=Mary|last2=Bendersky|first2=Corinne|title=Negotiations and Change: From the Workplace to Society|year=2003|publisher=ILR Press|location=Ithaca, NY|isbn=978-0-8014-4007-6|pages=117–137|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jj2UzQLKfUcC&q=Workplace%20Justice%2C%20Zero%20Tolerance%2C%20and%20Zero%20Barriers&pg=PA117|chapter=Workplace Justice, Zero Tolerance, and Zero Barriers|access-date=2020-10-04|archive-date=2023-01-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230121175239/https://books.google.com/books?id=jj2UzQLKfUcC&q=Workplace%20Justice%2C%20Zero%20Tolerance%2C%20and%20Zero%20Barriers&pg=PA117|url-status=live}}</ref>

Sexual harassment laws may also be used unfairly applied in effect. Unsolicited sexual advances were considered more disturbing and more discomforting when perpetrated by an [[Physical attraction|unattractive]] opposite sex colleague than when perpetrated by an attractive opposite sex colleague.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Klümper|first1=Lisa|last2=Schwarz|first2=Sascha|date=2019-11-25|title=Oppression or Opportunity? Sexual Strategies and the Perception of Sexual Advances|journal=Evolutionary Psychological Science|volume=6|issue=2|pages=142–153|language=en|doi=10.1007/s40806-019-00215-y|s2cid=214063309|issn=2198-9885}}</ref>

== In media and literature ==
{{In popular culture|section|date=May 2020}}
{{More citations needed section|date=February 2020}}

* ''[[678 (film)|678]]'', a film focusing on the sexual harassment of women in Egypt
* ''[[9 to 5 (film)|9 to 5]]'', a comedy film starring [[Jane Fonda]], [[Lily Tomlin]], and [[Dolly Parton]], about three women who are subjected to constant bullying and sexual harassment by their boss.
* In the pilot episode of the American comedy series ''[[Ally McBeal]]'', Ally leaves her job at her first firm because of unwanted attention from and [[groping]] by a male co-worker.
* ''[[The Ballad of Little Jo]]'', a film based on the true story of a woman living in the [[American Old West|frontier west]] who disguises herself as a man to protect herself from the sexual harassment and abuse of women all too common in that environment
* ''[[Bombshell (2019 film)|Bombshell]]'', a 2019 film based upon the accounts of the women at [[Fox News]] who set out to expose CEO [[Roger Ailes]] for sexual harassment.
* ''[[Disclosure (1994 film)|Disclosure]]'', a film starring [[Michael Douglas]] and [[Demi Moore]] in which a man is sexually harassed by his female superior, who tries to use the situation to destroy his career by claiming that he was the sexual harasser
* ''[[Disgrace (novel)|Disgrace]]'', a novel about a South African literature professor whose career is ruined after he has an affair with a student.
* The Fox television musical-drama show ''[[Glee (TV series)|Glee]]'' deals with issues around sexual harassment in the episodes "The Power of Madonna", "Never Been Kissed" and "The First Time".
* ''[[Hostile Advances: The Kerry Ellison Story]]'': television movie about ''Ellison v. Brady'', the case that set the "reasonable woman" precedent in sexual harassment law
* The 1961 musical ''[[How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (musical)|How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying]]'' deals with themes of both consensual office romance and unwelcome sexual harassment; one man is fired for making a pass at the wrong woman, and another man is warned via a song called "A Secretary is Not a Toy".
* ''Hunter's Moon'', a novel by [[Karen Robards]], deals with a female's experience of sexual harassment in the workplace.
* ''[[In the Company of Men]]'', a film about two male coworkers who, angry at women, plot to seduce and maliciously toy with the emotions of a deaf subordinate who works at the same company
* The [[AMC (TV channel)|AMC television]] drama show ''[[Mad Men]]'', set in the 1960s, depicts sexual harassment and coercive behavior.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.salon.com/2010/07/23/mad_men_bad_for_women/|title=Why "Mad Men" is bad for women|last=Engoron|first=Nelle|work=[[Salon.com|Salon]]|date=July 23, 2010|accessdate=February 18, 2025}}</ref>
* ''[[The Magdalene Sisters]]'', a film based on the true stories of young women imprisoned for "bringing shame upon their families" by being raped, sexually abused, flirting, or simply being pretty, and subsequently subjected to sexual harassment and abuse by the nuns and priests in the [[Magdalene asylum]]s in Ireland.
* ''[[Les Misérables (musical)|Les Misérables]]'', a musical based on the novel by [[Victor Hugo]]. The character [[Fantine]] is fired from her job after refusing to have sex with her supervisor.
* ''[[North Country (film)|North Country]]'', a 2005 film depicting a fictionalized account of ''[[Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co.]]'', the first sexual harassment class action lawsuit in the US.
* ''[[Oleanna (play)|Oleanna]]'', an American play by [[David Mamet]], later a film starring [[William H. Macy]]. A college professor is accused of sexual harassment by a student. The film deals with the moral controversy as it never becomes clear which character is correct.
* ''[[Pretty Persuasion]]'', a film starring [[Evan Rachel Wood]] and [[James Woods]] in which students turn the tables on a lecherous and bigoted teacher. A scathingly satirical film of sexual harassment and discrimination in schools, and attitudes towards females in media and society.
* ''[[War Zone (film)|War Zone]]'', a documentary about street harassment
* Commander [[Jeffrey D. Gordon|Jeffrey Gordon]], a military spokesman at Guantanamo Bay, complained that a reporter had been sexually harassing him.<ref>{{cite news |last=Kurtz |first=Howard |author-link=Howard Kurtz |date=July 25, 2009 |title=Military and Media Clash in Complaint: Navy Spokesman Alleges Abuse by Miami Reporter |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/24/AR2009072403664_pf.html |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=26 October 2021 |archive-date=5 January 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130105055219/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/24/AR2009072403664_pf.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

== See also ==
<!-- New links in alphabetical order please -->
{{columns-list|
* [[Disciplinary counseling]]
* [[Initiatives to prevent sexual violence]]
* [[London Anti-Street Harassment campaign]]
* [[Love contract]]
* [[Job interview]]
* [[Microinequity]]
* [[Mass sexual assault]]
* [[Me Too (hashtag)|#MeToo]]
* [[Occupational health psychology]]
* [[Operation Anti Sexual Harassment]]
* [[Stress (psychological)|Psychological stress]]
* [[Sexism]]
* [[Sexual bullying]]
* [[Sexual harassment in the military]]
* [[Sexual harassment in the workplace in the United States]]
* [[Til It Happens To You]]
* [[Workplace bullying]]
* [[Workplace harassment]]
* [[Workplace stress]]
}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* Boland, Mary L. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=WFrVaJyYTgAC Sexual Harassment: Your Guide to Legal Action] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231020131218/https://books.google.com/books?id=WFrVaJyYTgAC |date=2023-10-20 }}''. Naperville, Illinois: Sphinx Publishing, 2002. {{ISBN|978-1-57248-217-3}}.
{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book |last=Baker |first=Carrie |title = The Women's Movement Against Sexual Harassment |year=2008 |publisher = Cambridge University Press |location = New York, NY |isbn=978-0-521704946 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=2wBPD1vvTCYC&q=carrie+baker+sexual+harassment }}
* {{cite book |last1 = Bravo |first1 = Ellen |last2 = Cassedy |first2 = Ellen |author-link2=Ellen Cassedy|title = The 9 to 5 Guide to Combating Sexual Harassment |year=1999 |publisher=9to5 Working Women Education Fund |location=Milwaukee |isbn=978-0-9673398-0-1 }}
* Coburn, Jennifer. (1995). ''Take Back Your Power: A Working Woman's Response to Sexual Harassment''. ism press. {{ISBN|978-0-910383-13-4}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121020075002/http://www.aauw.org/learn/research/upload/DTLFinal.pdf Drawing the Line: Sexual Harassment on Campus.] American Association of University Women. 2006.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121020063807/http://www.aauw.org/learn/research/upload/hostilehallways.pdf Hostile Hallways: Bullying, Teasing, and Sexual Harassment in School.] American Association of University Women. 2002.
* Dromm, Keith (2012). ''Sexual Harassment: An Introduction to the Conceptual and Ethical Issues''. Broadview Press. {{ISBN|978-1554810109}}.
* Friedman, Gabrielle S., and James Q. Whitman. "The European transformation of harassment law: discrimination versus dignity." ''Columbia Journal of European Law'' 9 (2002): 241+.
* LaLonde, Jane; O'Shea, Tracy (1998). ''Sexual Harassment: A Practical Guide to the Law, Your Rights, and Your Options for Taking Action''. St. Martin's Griffin. {{ISBN|978-0-312-19524-3}}.
* MacKinnon, Catharine A. (1979). ''Sexual Harassment of Working Women: A Case of Sex Discrimination''. Yale University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-300-02299-5}}.
* {{cite book |title = Directions in Sexual Harassment Law |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=IhYip0PqV4EC |year=2004 |publisher = Yale Univ. Press |location = New Haven, CT |isbn=978-0-300-09800-6 |editor1-last = MacKinnon |editor1-first = Catharine A. |editor2-last = Siegel |editor2-first = Reva B. }}
* {{Cite journal | last1 = McLaughlin | first1 = Heather | last2 = Uggen | first2 = Christopher | last3 = Blackstone | first3 =  Amy | title = The economic and career effects of sexual harassment on working women | journal = [[Gender & Society]] | volume = 31 | issue = 3 | pages = 333–358 | doi = 10.1177/0891243217704631 | pmid = 29056822 | pmc = 5644356 | date = June 2017 }}
* Morewitz, Stephen J. (1996). Sexual Harassment and Social Change in American Society. Lanham, MD: Austin & Winfield, Publishers, University Press of America, Inc., Rowman & Littlefield Pub. Group. ISBN 978-1880921760
* {{cite book |title = Ivory Power: Sexual Harassment on Campus |year=1990 |publisher=  State University of New York Press |location=Albany, NY |isbn=978-0-7914-0457-7 |editor-last = Paludi |editor-first = Michele A. |url = https://archive.org/details/ivorypower00stat }}
* Patai, Daphne. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=cGYQUEkJvO8C Heterophobia: Sexual Harassment and the Future of Feminism]''. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 1999. {{ISBN|978-0-8476-8987-3}}.
* Pina, Afroditi, and [[Theresa Gannon|Theresa A. Gannon]]. "An overview of the literature on antecedents, perceptions and behavioural consequences of sexual harassment." ''Journal of Sexual Aggression'' 18.2 (2012): 209–232. [https://kar.kent.ac.uk/25836/2/Pina%20%26%20Gannon%20Journal%20of%20Sexual%20Aggression.doc online]
* Roberts, Barry S.; Mann, Richard A. [http://www3.uakron.edu/lawrev/robert1.html "Sexual Harassment In The Workplace: A Primer"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225215832/http://www3.uakron.edu/lawrev/robert1.html |date=2021-02-25 }}.
* Saguy, Abigail C. (2003). ''What is Sexual Harassment: From Capitol Hill to the Sorbonne'' (Berkeley. University of California Press, 2003).
*Uggen, Christopher; Powers, Ráchael A.; McLaughlin, Heather; Blackstone, Amy (2021). "[[doi:10.1146/annurev-criminol-011419-041436|Toward a Criminology of Sexual Harassment]]". ''Annual Review of Criminology''. '''4''' (1): 33–51.
* Wadham, John, et al. ''Blackstone's guide to the Equality Act 2010'' (Oxford University Press,  2010) in UK; [https://books.google.com/books?id=lm00i_iMFboC&dq=Equality+Act+2010+harassment&pg=PR15 online].
* Zippel, Kathrin S. ''The politics of sexual harassment: A comparative study of the United States, the European Union, and Germany'' (Cambridge University Press, 2006).

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* [https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/sexharassresources.html U.S. Dept. Of Education Sexual Harassment Resources]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060717065233/http://www.cfchildren.org/articlef/walls1f/ Committee for Children: Bullying and sexual harassment in schools]
{{Sexual ethics}}
{{Sexual abuse}}
{{Abuse}}
{{Bullying}}
{{Discrimination}}
{{Employment}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Sexual harassment| ]]
[[Category:Feminism and education]]
[[Category:Feminism and sexuality]]
[[Category:Feminism and social class]]
[[Category:Feminist economics]]
[[Category:Gender-related violence]]
[[Category:Labour law]]
[[Category:Sex crimes]]
[[Category:Sexuality and society]]
[[Category:Workplace harassment and bullying]]
[[Category:Ethically disputed working conditions]]
[[Category:Sexual misconduct|Harassment]]
[[Category:Sexual ethics]]