Sexualharassment seems to be the topic of the year. Whenever we turn on ourtelevision to the news, we’re hearing about women being sexually harassed bymen in high power. There is approximately 40 to 70% of women who says they weresexually harassed while being at work.
That percentage is extremely high. Injust this year alone, there has been more then one hundred women who have cameout, and alleged that they have been sexually assaulted ten, fifteen or even 20years ago. Now the question is, why don’t these victims of sexual harassmentcome forward sooner? Well, before we get into the specific reasons why victims of sexual harassment don’tcome forward sooner, let’s briefly talk about exactly what sexual harassmentis. According to the Webster dictionary, sexual harassment is defined as; harassment (typically of a woman) in a workplace, or other professional orsocial situation, involving the making of unwanted sexual advances or obsceneremarks. To be more specific, behaviors that fall into the sexual harassmentcategory includes; invasion of privacy, sexual jokes, exposing body parts, inappropriate touching, being offered a benefit for a sexual favor and etc. Tobegin with, one of the main reasons why women have a tendency to not come forward with sexual harassment claims isbecause of shame. Abuse, especially sexual abuse is often humiliating and dehumanizing, so as a result, the victims feel ashamed. In today’s society, unfortunately, womenwho are sexually assaulted are usually blamed for being sexually assaulted.
Notonly are they blamed by others, but they even blame themselves. For example, Lee Corfman, who recently reported that she was sexually assaulted by Roy Moorwhen she was 14 years old states, “ I felt responsible. I thought I wasbad.” That statement from Lee Corfman isvery common for sexually harassed victims. Shame is a feeling deep inside uswhich causes us to feel exposed and unworthy. When we feel ashamed, we have atendency to want to hide and be invisible, and that is exactly why victims ofsexual harassment don’t usually come out right away. Victims of sexual harassment also have a bigfear of the consequences.
They are afraid they’ll lose their jobs, fear thatthey’ll lose their credibility, that they’ll be branded a troublemaker and the list goes on and on. According to huffing post, sexual misconduct is the most under-reported crime because of the belief thatwomen make up these stories for attention. I’m sure there are a few women who actually make up stories like this, butnot all women should be labeled a lier because of it. One of the biggest fearsthat sexually harassed victims have, is fear for their safety. Sexual harassersoften threaten either the lives, jobs or careers of the victims. Fear preventsthe sexually harassed victim from speaking out against the harasser.
Inconclusion, sexually harassed victims don’t usually come forward as a result oflack of information. They don’t really understand what sexual harassment is, they don’t recognize sexual harassment as a real threat, and they don’tunderstand what the consequences may befor them if they don’t reach out for help or report the incident. What somewomen don’t know is that sexual harassment can cause anxiety, PTSD, loss of self-esteem, and many more effects. As a matterof fact, according to studies, up to 15 to 1, 1, 000 females reported they madesuicidal attempts after suffering from some type of sexual harassment.
