My professor, who is a law teacher, defines sexual harassment as a physical activity, which is devoid of sex
y professor, who is a law teacher, defines sexual harassment as a physical activity, which is devoid of sex. In previous decades the words 'sexual harassment' were hardly used; probably many of us were unaware of its connotations.
Thanks to the women's rights movement, men are warned to be mindful of their physical limits.
Over the years, sexual harassment and rape were words only associated with female victims. I don't remember warning my sons to be careful when going to the bathroom because they were boys. My perceptions were corrected upon learning what happened to a 6-year-old boy who just answered nature's call in school.
After the incident, the confused child kept quiet about the incident, for a while. A child that age would not know about molestation.
Many cases of sexual harassment have happened but we are unaware of it.
It is present in offices, parties, elevators or anywhere people are.
On one of our vacations, I entered the body scan machine and it beeped. The lady in grey uniform asked me to step aside for a body check.
I thought it was only me but my daughter complained of the lady 'feeling her all over'. I had a feeling of disgust upon remembering the physical check.
First, what was the lady looking for?
Second, how much can we keep in our bodies that causes harm inside the aircraft?
Third, how am I guaranteed that the lady touching me was not enjoying each and every moment of it? What if the female touching me has an innate desire for women and would go to any length to 'know more' about women's bodies?
A male Swedish friend ended up screaming, because of the physical check up in the airport. He felt raped by another man because of the way he was 'felt'.
'I told them why don't I just walk in the scanner naked. They have asked me to remove a lot of my stuff from my body and the man touched me all over!' he recalled.
If this is kind of physical checkups are not termed sexual harassment I wonder what they may be called. I reckon it would be 'permitted sexual harassment' or 'freelance sexual harassment'.
In its website, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says 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, an agent of the employer, a supervisor in another area, a coworker or a nonemployee; The victim does not have to be the person harassed but could be anyone affected by the offensive conduct; and unlawful sexual harassment may occur without economic injury to or discharge of the victim.
One may now rethink what exactly sexual harassment is all about. Most of us are naïve and ignore what people do to us just like the 6-year-old child.
Sexual harassment should be taught to a child as young as possible. They should be made aware of all kinds of possibilities by informing them that molestation can happen everywhere and anywhere and by all means even the person you trust may do it to you.
The molesters may be apprehended and jailed, but who will pay for the consequences of what may happen to the child's mental state as he grows up. At the end of the day it is the victim and his family who will suffer the most. The victim will live all his life in fear, shame and disgust.
If the physical inspection by the security in the airport has left me in distaste, one can imagine what the child and his parents must be going through at that state.
The author is a freelance writer, based in Jakarta.
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