Sexual Harassment at Work

Sexual Harassment: A Workplace Issue April Tryon University of Phoenix Has anyone you know been a victim of sexual harassment? It’s a subject that should be taken very seriously. Sexual harassment is often defined as unwanted sexual attention that targets a person based on sex, is intimidating, and is often very offensive. Most people believe that women are the only victims. Sexual harassment happens to men as well as woman, but largely goes unreported. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), there is nearly 15,000 cases existing a year, with 40-60% of reported complaints coming from women. Most incidents involve female victims, but the prevalence of male victims is rapidly growing. There have been 15% of reported cases involving males. (_Sexual Harassment in the United States, _2008) Sexual harassment of men does exist, but men are less likely to report the behavior due to several reasons. Some men often feel embarrassed not to be a man and enjoy the opportunity for sexual activity. They also fear that their case will not be taken seriously. Most of the time they fear the humiliation from other coworkers and masculine stereotypes. surgery. In most cases, the majority of people working in these types of environments are men and obscenities like sexually joking, explicit vocabulary, etc. are very common. who determine if a complaint of sexual harassment should be justified or not. Because of this, if one labeled the problem. Woman, often fear reporting a claim for this reason. Not reporting sexual harassment may lead the harasser to believe that they have the approval or consent, therefore, they will continue to make sexual remarks or act in sexual behavior. Unfortunately, sexual harassment effects both men and woman of all ages and does not discriminate. Figure1. Below shows a breakdown of male vs. female reported cases. {draw:frame} Figure 1. Reason victims may not report a case: Fear of job loss Fear