Signs to Spot Harassment
What are the types of sexual harassment?
Sexual harassment can take many forms, and none of them are okay. Here are some examples, but it’s important to remember that this is not an exhaustive list.
Sexual harassment can include:
- Unwanted sexual comments, such as: telling sexual stories about someone, making dirty comments to them, making sexual remarks about someone’s clothes and/or appearance and calling someone sexualised names;
- Sexual ‘jokes’ or taunting/teasing;
- Physical behaviour, such as: deliberately brushing or rubbing against someone, interfering with someone’s clothing, displaying pictures/photos/drawings of a sexual nature, touching, groping or grabbing someone’s private parts, bottom or breasts;
- Online sexual harassment, such as: inappropriate sexual comments on social media, sharing explicit images & videos with someone who doesn’t want to see them or hasn’t given permission for them to be shared, and threatening behaviour online;
- Taking pictures underneath someone’s clothing; ‘upskirting’ (taking a photo underneath someone’s skirt)
Sexual harassment can be carried out by one person against another person, by a group of people against one other person, or by a group against another group of people. It most commonly happens to women, but it can happen to anyone and be committed by anyone.
All sexual harassment is serious, none of it is okay and some actions are illegal.