t - New York Civil Liberties Union

065
Union-Endicott
NAME:
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l SEXUAL HARASSMENT: HoW TO DEFINE IT l
STUDENT
FACT
SHEET
1
Sexual harassment is unwanted and unwelcome sexual behavior that interferes with
your life. Sexual harassment does not include behaviors that you like or want.
Defining sexual harassment may seem difficult. Let's give it a try. In its most basic
form it is uninvited, and/or unwelcome, and/or unsolicited, and/or unwanted
conduct directed at a person because he is male or because she is female.
Sexual harassment can be from a female to a male, from a male to a female, from a
male to a male or from a female to a female. Sexual harassment crosses all cultural
. .... and class lines .. Á-totaLof-8Lpercent-of-aILstudents .are.the.target.ofíharassment.at.L. -.. .
least once in their school years. By the eight grade 65 percent of girls and 55
percent of boys have experienced at least one incident of harassment. Of the total
harassed, four out of five times the person harassing them was another student, but
one out of five times the harasser was a teacher or other school employee. Your
school district has a policy that forbids sexual harassment no matter who is doing the
behaviors.
The dictionary defines "uninvited" as "not asked for, not attracted or asked for the
attention." It is more difficult sometimes to figure out when something is
"unwelcome." If it bothers you and is on your mind a lot or it makes you feel bad
about yourself, then the conduct is probably unwelcome. There is another hint to
help you figure out when something is unwelcome. When conduct is unwelcome, it
is usually initiated or started by the person doing the behavior. For example, when
someone always wants to hug you but you don't feel comfortable hugging that
person, you probably never initiate the hug. A good and wanted interaction involves
the mutual participation of both parties. How can you tell if the behavior is sexual
in nature? What this means is that the person doing the behavior is only doing it to
the target because the person is male or is female. For instance, in name calling,
some names are said only to girls and some are said only to boys. Calling a girl a
"bitch" or a boy a "fag" are common examples.
When the unwelcome behavior occurs between students, the conduct becomes sexual
harassment when the person doing the conduct finds out that it is unwelcome (unless
it is so serious that everyone knows it's not okay). This can happen when the.person
who is the target tells the person to stop or a friend or teacher tells the person to stop
the behavior. Once a person knows that what he or she. is doing is making someone
uncomfortable, thatindividual must stop the behavior.
HRM VIDEO
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I No EXCUSES: SEXUAL HARASSMENT
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