END FEMALE SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN DELTA STATE
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
SEXUAL HARASSMENT
PREVENTION
WORKSHOP MANUAL
OBJECTIVES
• To increase knowledge about sexual harassment in academic
institutions in order to stop its occurrence.
• To define sexual harassment and promoting the understanding of
what is/what is not sexual harassment.
• To promote dialogue about sexual harassment in academic
communities.
• To provide guidelines for addressing sexual harassment.
• To provide support for victims of sexual harassment.
• To explain legal and other consequences of sexual harassment
• To understand your role and responsibility in ensuring an
academic institution free of sexual harassment.
WHY SHOULD YOU BE CONCERNED ABOUT
SEXUAL HARASSMENT?
• Sexual harassment behavior is contrary to the norms
and values of our society.
• Sexual harassment in higher educational institutions
violates civil rights laws.
• Being
able
to
identify
what
constitute
sexual
harassment conduct and knowing how to respond to it
are important steps in protecting students in campus
communities.
WHAT IS SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN HIGHER
EDUCATIONAL INSTIITUTION?
Sexual harassment, according to the United States Equal
Employment
Opportunity
Commission
(EEOC)
can
be
defined as:
• Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and
other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. Sexual
harassment happens when submission to, or rejection of 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 (academic) environment.
This definition has been further elaborated:
• Sexual
harassment
can
occur
in
a
variety
of
circumstances, including but not limited to the following:
– The victim as well as the harasser may be a woman or a man. The
victim does not have to be of the opposite sex.
– The harasser can be the victim's supervisor, a lecturer, an agent of
the employer, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or a nonemployee.
– The victim does not have to be the person harassed but could be
anyone affected by the offensive conduct.
– Unlawful sexual harassment may occur without economic injury to or
discharge of the victim.
– The harasser's conduct must be unwelcome.
HOW COMMON IS SEXUAL HARASSMENT?
• Sexual harassment is common in the workplace and in
academic institutions, it is not limited to any particular
profession, age, race or gender.
• While the most common case of reported sexual
harassment involves ‘males harassing females’, it should
be known that there are ‘females harassing males’ and
either male or female harassing members of their own
gender.
TYPES OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT
• QUID PRO QUO SEXUAL HARASSMENT: Quid Pro Quo means ‘this
for that’, this type of harassment occur when a teacher(or school
employee) stipulates that your grade will be based on whether you
submit to unwanted sexual conduct. Refusal to engage in sexual act
or return sexual favor may result in failure or victimization.
• HOSTILE
ENVIRONMENT
SEXUAL
HARASSMENT:
Verbal,
physical or visual forms of harassment, that are sexual in nature,
"sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive" and unwelcome fall
under the category of Hostile Environment Sexual Harassment. A
single, severe incident, such as a sexual assault, could create a
hostile environment. More commonly, a "hostile environment" is
created by a series of incidents.
UNACCEPTABLE BEHAVIORS THAT SIGNAL
SEXUAL HARASSMENT
• Physical contact that includes touching, pinching, patting,
kissing, rubbing up against, fondling, groping, grabbing or
assault.
• Interfering with or blocking movement.
• Verbal sexual advances or propositions.
• Suggestive or obscene letters, notes, invitations or
emails received at work or at home.
• Repeated face-to-face, telephone or email invitations
after having refused.
UNACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOR THAT SIGNAL
SEXUAL HARASSMENT (Part 2)
• Verbal abuse of a sexual nature, including graphic comments about
an individual's body, sexually degrading words to describe an
individual.
• Unwanted sexual advances or attention.
• Obscene or suggestive sounds.
• Obscene or suggestive gifts.
• Frequent discussion of sexual acts.
• Leering, making sexual gestures, displaying sexually suggestive
objects or pictures, cartoons or posters.
• Making or using derogatory comments, epithets, slurs and joke.
SOME RELATIONSHIPS IN WHICH SEXUAL
HARASSMENT COULD OCCUR
• Professor
&
Student
• Administrator
&
Student
• Professor
&
Professor
• Faculty member &
Student
• Student
Student
&
IS IT REALLY SEXUAL HARASSMENT?
• There is a lot of confusion about when things cross
the line from flirting/joking to harassment. If you
are not sure about being harassed just ask yourself
this question ‘Does it feel good or bad?’ Flirting feels
good for both parties, whereas harassment feels bad
for the harassed, making him or her uncomfortable.
HAS ANY OF THESE EVER HAPPENED TO YOU?
• I have been the target of sexual comments, jokes, teasing,
gestures, or looks.
•
I have had my clothing pulled in a sexual way.
•
I have had sexual rumors spread about me.
•
I have had my way blocked in a sexual way.
•
I have been touched, grabbed, or pinched in a sexual way.
• I have been shown or given sexual pictures, photographs,
illustrations, messages, or notes.
HAS ANY OF THESE HAPPENED TO YOU (Part 2)
• I have been physically intimidated by another student or
lecturer.
• I have stayed home or cut a class because I felt intimidated by
my lecturer.
•
I have felt unsafe in school.
• I have been penalized, threatened, or further harassed as a
result of complaining about, or reporting sexual harassment
HAS ANY OF THESE HAPPENED TO YOU
(Part 3)
• If you answered YES to one or more of
these questions, chances are that you
have been sexually harassed.
TRUE OR FALSE OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT
• Quid Pro quo is a form of sexual harassment that
includes offensive verbal, visual and/or physical
contact that creates a hostile work environment?
True or False
FALSE
• Requesting or demanding sexual favors in exchange
for grade benefits or threatening reprisals if the
favors are not given is an illegal type of sexual
harassment know as Quid Pro Quo harassment
TRUE OR FALSE
• The best way of stopping sexual harassment is to
ignore it and it will go away.
FALSE
• Sexual harassment includes staring or leering that
makes
another
person
feel
uncomfortable
and
intimidated and if it is ignored it will not go away.
TRUE OR FALSE
•
Sexual harassment is really just a form of teasing an
it is not against the law.
FALSE
• Sexual harassment can be very hurtful and have longlasting effects on people. It is also against the law
TRUE OR FALSE
• People who sexually harass others are usually
motivated by attraction and desire.
FALSE
• Sexual harassment is about power, not sex. A
harasser's actions are often meant to humiliate or
intimidate the victim.
TRUE OF FALSE
• If a girl wears revealing clothing she cannot then
complain about being sexually harassed.
FALSE
• The responsibility to avoid sexual harassment is on
the person doing the harassing. You cannot use the
way a person dresses as an excuse for harassing
them.
STRATEGIES ON HOW TO PREVENT
SEXUAL HARASSMENT
• If someone harasses you, tell him or her to stop. Say you do not
like what he or she is doing to you. If you are uncomfortable
confronting the person directly, do it in writing.
• Keep a journal of your experiences with sexual harassment. This
will help you if you ever need to remember particular details.
Getting your feelings on paper also might make you feel better.
If the person harassing you or that person’s friends send you
any notes or e-mails, keep them. Your records might later help
prove the harassment.
• Interrupt any harassment you observe and tell an adult you
trust. Don’t be a bystander!
STRATEGIES ON HOW TO PREVENT
SEXUAL HARASSMENT (Part 2)
• Meet or get involved with a leadership or other student
group that works on sexual harassment issues. If no such
student group exists, organize your peers to address this
and other related issues, such as body image and dating
violence.
• Remind yourself that sexual harassment is wrong, is illegal,
and should stop. Don’t tell yourself (or believe it if anyone
else tells you) it’s your fault. Don’t ignore what is
happening to you, hoping it will stop on its own.
HOW CAN YOU HELP IN PREVENTING
SEXUAL HARASSMENT?
•
Share the information you gained from this workshop with others.
•
Be supportive of people you know who are facing this problem.
Encourage them to resist and take action.
•
If you observe sexual harassment, be courageous enough to offer to be
a witness. Put yourself in the victim's place and remember that you
would need encouragement and support if this ever happened to you.
•
Above all, don't be forced into "going along with the crowd" and
accepting sexual harassment as "the way things are" or as a joking
matter.
HOW CAN YOU HELP IN PREVENTING
SEXUAL HARASSMENT? (Part 2)
• Support
legislation
that
seeks
to
prevent
sexual
harassment. Ask your school or union if they have a
specific policy against sexual harassment. If not, work
toward getting one.
• Talk with your colleagues about things like appropriate
dress on the campus, joking around about sex, personal
relationships with lecturers and other things that people
may try to use against you if you are ever a victim of
sexual harassment.
If you want more information about this
topic or other issue affecting women,
please visit DeltaWomen’s website at
www.deltawomen.org.