SEXUAL HARASSMENT: WHO IS THE VICTIM, WHO IS THE CULPRIT?

Hi hi, good morning everyone. How's da weather over there where you are? Cool, I hope. I thought we were having another eclipse of something this morning, with the way the clouds darkened here before the torrential  rainfall. My only wish was that it had rained like this on a Saturday so I'd just go back to bed. Anyway, man must whack, so we all had to leave our houses despite the weather. 

Over the years there have been some misconceptions as to what constitutes sexual harassment. While some people have been quick to point accusing fingers or claim to be victims of sexual harassment, there is need for us to pause and think; who are the real victims and who are the bad guys in this case?

Any “unwelcome” sexual advances, request for sexual favour, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitutes sexual harassment when submission to or rejection of this conduct explicitly affects an individual’s employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance, especially by somebody with “authority” towards a “subordinate”. As a practice, sexual harassment is certainly not new. There have been accounts of men and women placing their means of livelihoods at risk if they did not submit to some sort of sexual activity. In the definition of sexual harassment, three things should be noted, it must be unwelcome, and usually involve one person in authority and a subordinate. However, is this really the case, can a subordinate sexually harass a superior?

Courtesy: Google

Sexual harassment could be verbal or written, comments about a person’s clothing, personal behaviour or a person’s body, sexual innuendos, telling rumours about a person’s  personal or sexual life; it could be physical, impeding or blocking somebody’s movement, inappropriate touching of a person or a person’s clothing, kissing, patting or stroking; it could even be in a non-verbal form, looking up and down a person’s body, derogatory gestures or facial expressions of sexual nature; or visual, posters, drawings, text messages and e-mails of sexual nature.

Having gone through the various forms of sexual harassment we have to ask ourselves, is it always the case of the boss harassing the subordinate?, the lecturer harassing the student?, the man harassing the woman?. If we have to be honest then the answer is NO. The reverse could and has been the case on several occasions in our work places, schools and even religious places. Who is sexually harassing who when a subordinate makes sexually suggestive comments to his or her boss or tries to offer sexual favours in return for a favour?, when students constantly harass their lecturers through all sorts of manner in return for As and Bs?, when women dress to distract and harass in our places of worship?, when they flock around the men of God and constantly use both verbal and non-verbal forms of sexual harassment?

While it is widely known and accepted that sexual harassment is a manifestation of power relations and often involves the use of intimidation, it is quite important for us to check ourselves before screaming “wolf”. What we see as mild flirtation could actually be sexual harassment. It is widely believed that women are the victims of sexual harassment precisely because they more often than men lack power, are in more vulnerable and insecure positions, lack self confidence, or have been socialised to suffer in silence. This however does not erase the fact that some men are harassed by women or even their fellow men who are either their bosses or even their subordinates. We are always quick to attribute the high rate of sexual harassment in our higher institutions to the indecent manner in which some students dress that we overlook the fact that most female students that are sexually harassed are the decently dressed ones. The indecent and unserious students are the ones that constantly sexually harass the lecturers. Most higher institutions in Nigeria have adopted a dress code for their students, but have that eradicated sexual harassment in such schools? Some male students that are sexually harassed by the female lecturers, are they indecently dressed too?

Many people have believed over the years that the issue of sexual harassment should not be discussed in public, sexual harassment was to be discussed behind closed doors. Today however, the trend is changing; you have the right to make it stop. While you are deciding what to do, remember that every situation is different, there is no one best thing to do but try and bear the following in mind:

Say NO clearly: Tell the harasser that his or her behaviour offends you. Firmly refuse all invitations and if the harassment doesn’t end promptly, write e formal letter to the harasser to stop and keep a copy.

Write down what happened: As soon as you experience sexual harassment, start writing it down. Write down dates, places, times and the witnesses to what happened. You can even try and get the witnesses to write down what they saw.

Report the harassment: Tell your supervisor, your human resources department or other department or person within your organisation who has the power to stop the harassment. If possible tell them in writing and keep a copy of any complaint you make. If the harassment persists, file a complaint with the Public Service Commission, or the National Human Rights Commission.

Members of institutional boards of governance and university administrators must provide strong support of programs to eliminate sexual harassment if this blight is to be removed from our institutions. To affect this, the institutional leaders must take the following steps:

 There must be carefully drafted definitions of what constitutes sexual harassment and clear policies that prohibit such actions.

 There must be accessible grievance procedures that are communicated to and understood by all members of the academic community.

 Efforts should be made to educate the campus community about the nature of sexual harassment and its destructive impact on our society.

 Examples should be made of defaulting persons as they will serve as caution for intending transgressors.

Once these steps are taken, I believe this ugly, degrading and humiliating trend will not rear its ugly head in our society. 

Have a great week ahead.

Hugs...