Sexual Harassment Awareness Essay

Sexual Harassment Awareness:
A Necessity for School Schools are required to cover many important topics to teenagers such as bullying and suicide, but one important topic that is grossly over-looked is sexual harassment. One of the most important issues that will affect teens in their life long after High School, and many don’t even have a clear understanding of what it is or even how frequently it happens. Many would argue that this isn’t a serious issue. That what people claim to be sexual harassment are actually just harmless jokes and teasing. Or that many women just over-react to harmless things for attention or because they don’t what to be hit on by the harasser. This is not true, many people don’t know the nature of sexual harassment …show more content…
But sexual harassment can even have an effect on those who have not dealt with it first-hand. Girls can have many problems, since meeting and defying the stereotypical standards of beauty makes them high risk for harassment. But many males in this same situation are at a very low risk (Hill and Kearl). And sexual harassment has an effect on everyone, harassers and victims alike. The schools are affected too since they get money from their attendance, no students means no money. Then the students will begin to fail their classes if they never show up. This also reinforces the gender norms that women are the weaker sex and men are the strong ones. If young girls are at high risk either way, then young boys will see that and believe the stereotype to be true. But sexual harassment is not isolated to the school building, it happens in the workplace too. When Stacey Walker started at Toronto Western Hospital, a male co-worker began massaging her shoulders. This happened when they were in a dark room, alone. She felt uncomfortable and ran. When she informed her colleagues, many women said they had the same thing happen to them. She was told to …show more content…
Sexual harassment is made up of many things; comments, actions and gestures, or any attention made to hurt another person. But the focus is on how a person looks, their body and/or parts of their body and their sexual orientation. Examples of sexual harassment can include: touching and groping in an intentionally sexual act, grabbing at a person’s clothing or getting close to them in a sexual fashion, sexual comments, gestures and jokes aimed at a person, and rumors that are sexual in nature. Even if someone is in a caring relationship sexting each other in not a good idea. If these images are even accidentally leaked, that is a form of bullying and sexual harassment. The same can be said for flirting because people can cross the line, this may include making a joke about sexting, if the ends the conversation it is not harassment. But being pressured into sending pictures that are sexual is crossing the line. Just like a guy telling a girl that her jeans make her butt look good, or someone being flirted with and the other person is touching them in an undesirable and inappropriate manner or making remarks about their body or sex (Morrow). Doing any one of these actions is considered sexual harassment, but many teens may not know how harmful their jokes are. Students should be informed on what their actions truly mean. But knowing is only part of the battle, students and teachers