A new Western term - "harassment" has entered into the lexical stock of words of modern Russian people. Let's understand what the word "harassment" means. We will especially pay attention to how it manifests itself, where it happens and what to do in such cases.
The meaning of the term
Briefly answer the question of what harassment is, it is harassment that occurs in a working environment. The question, in fact, is very relevant. Now much attention is paid to this topic on social networks, Twitter posts are published, affected people share harassment stories from life, trying to prevent the spread of this disaster through the transfer of their experience.
The history of the term, its meaning
The word first appeared at the beginning of the 17th century in France. What is harassment at the time? The meaning of the term was “to set a hunting dog on a game”. Times have changed, and now it is used metaphorically. Game is called girls (women), which are hunted by men. Women are the direct object of harassment.
How does harassment affect women?
Why did this word come to be used? Abusive behavior is always unpleasant to the person to whom it is directed. In this case, the girl also loses her calm, she is nervous and literally feels game driven into a corner.
It is important to consider that in relation to men, such a term is also used. A man can become an object of harassment. There is evidence that in 4 out of 5 cases, the aggressors pursuing the “game” man are also men.
Where does the harassment take place?
Places where sexual harassment occurs can be completely different. Not only work is on this list. If you look more closely, signs of harassment from men in relation to women can be seen in the library, on the street, in the supermarket, at an event and in any other place. Unfortunately, no one is safe from this.
Consequences of Harassment
Harassment is usually manifested in harassment, intimacy, harassment, insult, and humiliation of game. The behavior of a man is often accompanied by swear words. If this behavior is not stopped, then a woman can become a victim of not only harassment, but also rape. The consequences of harassment are, in fact, catastrophic.
Signs of Harassment
Based on the foregoing, we can draw the following conclusion: for our own safety, in order to understand at the very first signs what is happening and stop harassment, express dissatisfaction with other people's behavior, first of all, the victim must know the characteristics of the harassment, its signs. Let's list them.
- The most harmless signs, it can be said, look like a manifestation of attention. But be careful. After all, what is harassment? This is not just attention. These are words about the size of the chest, statements about the figure, emphasis on the neckline of the blouse. Here you can add whistles and shouts.
- The description of the second stage harassment is already more serious signs of unwanted attention: cases when a person invades your personal space. For example, he leans too close to you or periodically blocks the road.
- The next in ascending order are touches to the "game". For example, do you often have cases where your colleague or boss is constantly touching you? He can get over his shoulders or waist, hug in the form of a comforting gesture, stroking his hand.
And there are times when hints of sexual desire are expressed more primitively and ill-mannered, absolutely outside of ethical standards. These include situations where a person put his hand on his knee, on his hips or buttocks.
- If the first three stages can still be resolved peacefully, show reluctance to further contact, then the fourth is already direct violence. What is harassment? This is an attempt to attack a woman in a closed deserted office or other room.
Do not pay attention to such words as “darling”, “darling”, if the aggressor speaks to you like that. Such words do not mean good attitude and harmlessness of the "hunter" to you. The scariest stories about harassment are stories about violence. The intentions of the man are obvious and there is only one way out - to act on the circumstances and as soon as possible to leave the confined space in a place filled with people.
The victims
Studies have shown that most complaints of harassment come from women who serve in the army, more specifically every fourth female employee. But is it worth saying that harassment is a phenomenon that often occurs outside of service.
Why are women silent about harassment?
The Russian mentality, unfortunately, is such that many consider increased attention to the female person as a result of her flirting. For some reason, the presence of flirting is always assumed in the minds of people, but in the harassment it is absent, and this fact plays a huge role. The girl was chosen as the victim, and the male hunter involved in the incident, as a rule, does not adequately perceive the refusal. He feels intrigue and is trying to "capture the game" by any means.
Ultimatums
With harassment, as a rule, a man can put an ultimatum. For example, if a woman refuses intimacy, then the teacher or instructor will put a deuce for her exam, as a result of which the girl will not get the right, will not enter the next course, and so on. At the workplace, the boss may blackmail a woman, threatening to fire her or lose her bonus.
There are a lot of similar cases. And, unfortunately, girls most often agree to contact and after that they are silent about what happened, or they lose their jobs and receive a negative recommendation. It is important to understand that if a woman succumbs to provocation, then such situations may not be limited to one incident. The provocateur will feel weak and will put pressure on her with all his might in order to get what he wants.
If the "game" refuses, then, of course, a woman can be fired. But there is the probability and exceptions of such a turn of events. Perhaps just the provocateur will be fired. Moreover, often the same person is a troublemaker for several women, that is, there have already been similar situations with the harassment of someone else. This could have happened earlier, and, perhaps, there is a hunt for two girls at once.
Harassment in countries
Of course, in different countries the perception of harassment is different. In Russia, for example, whistling, shouting, slapping on the buttocks and more arrogant street harassment are not punishable by law. And often all this comes from sassy, strange, and sometimes scary personalities. Of course, there is article No. 133 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which regulates the framework of relations and establishes punishment in the form of a fine and even imprisonment. But, unfortunately, punishment is just a myth of harassment. In fact, such cases rarely end fairly for women.
There are countries in which the opinion of women is not taken into account at all, and only legends go about democracy and the equal rights of each person. There, harassment is not considered vulgar, on the contrary, it is a manifestation of male power and female submission. The rules by which society lives come from traditions and religion.
America can be set as an absolutely opposite example. American men know that obscene words, increased interest in a woman who does not like you, are punishable by law. And the amount of damage that the court obliges the victim to pay is far from small. At the same time, the appearance of the woman does not play any role, she is free to dress and dye as she wants.
It is known that the European Parliament has worked on this issue. Since 2002, thanks to the adopted bill, sexual harassment occurring at the place of work in the EU countries is also punishable by law.
