The Frostburg New Day: Sexual Harrasment

T.J. Awad,

Lauren Calton,

Logan Miller,

Terra Sheppard.

Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment is unwelcome sexual contact from someone else. A lot of times, sexual harassment goes unnoticed. This is because people may think it’s a form of flirting or just playing around. But when does playing around cross the line? A lot of time sexual harassment goes unknown or just thrown under the rug. The results of the Gallup’s annual Crime Survey, conducted in 2014, found that 37%, of U.S. adults say they would not feel safe walking alone near their home at night. By gender, 45%, of women said they do not feel safe walking alone at night, compared with 27% of men. This can display that women have a more of sexual harassment than men. Even though, Sexual harassment does not just apply to a specific gender.

Emily Caputo is the title nine coordinator at Frostburg State University. She states that sexual harassment doesn’t have to have a specific place or setting. “Sexual Harassment happens in the workplace all the time” Says Emily Caputo. She always states about that even if you that you feel that you were sexually harassed, you should report it. The reason that Emily took the title nine position at Frostburg was because a lot of students went up to her and said that they felt like they weren’t being heard. In the Gallup’s crime survey, it stated that 45% of women do not feel safe walking alone. A lot of times women have fear of getting attacked because they seem like an easy target. But what if they weren’t at a party. What if a women was with her friends at a party? Would they still have that level of fear? The answer for most would be no.

Most women feel comfortable at parties and just want to have a nice time. “I would never feel uncomfortable at a party because I’m surrounded by people that I know” says Alexi Adkins. The problem on college campuses is that sexual harassment happens a lot at parties and it goes unknown. If a guy smacks a women’s butt and she says stop, he should stop. If he smiles and continues, that is considered sexual harassment. A lot of women don’t know what to do in a situation when they are being sexual harassed. Women usually think that they can’t report sexual harassment unless they were actually rape. The truth is that any type of harassment is crime. Something I found interesting in my research was that men think that women want to be approach if they drees or act a certain. Does body language play a factor in sexual harassment? Of course it does. People feed off of body language to make a valuable judgement in their mind. Both males and females find people with available body language the most attractive. Available body language is smiling, uncrossed arms, uncrossed legs and upward gazing (not looking down at shoes or phones). “If a girl looks open and she’s smiling and flirting, it hard to differentiate if she is uncomfortable or not” Says Tavon Wilson.

From 1990 to 2009, the percentage of sexual harassment claims filed by men has doubled from 8 percent to 16 percent of all claims, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Women still file the overwhelming majority of sexual harassment claims with the EEOC and state and local agencies. But lawyers at the commission say they’ve noticed the increase in complaints by men — more than 2,000 were filed in 2009 out of about 12,700 cases. Men get sexually harassed in the workplace often but a lot the time they are afraid to speak. That deals with the fear of being emasculated. Men and women have the same thing in common in terms of speaking up, that thing fear. Whether it’s the fear of seeing like a prostitute or whether it’s the fear of being weak. Everyone wants to keep their dignity and reputation. That is a big factor that stands in the way of a lot of people speaking up for themselves. It’s sad that a lot of people will just deal with sexual harassment rather that speaking up due to self to self-pride. But on the other hand, having a clean reputation goes a long way in society. Reputation is specifically valuable in school and the workplace. You are constantly working with other people and their opinions matter. Most people want to be liked by other people. Nobody wants someone to have negative thoughts about them. No one wants to feel uncomfortable when they step outside their homes. Plus you have to go through the process of talking to the police and that can uncomfortable to people. The police will ask the victim uncomfortable question and the victim might feel ridiculous by answering them.

In conclusion, Sexual harassment isn’t something to take lightly. Sexual harassment is a real thing that requires support and help from other people. People shouldn’t be afraid to speak up and tell the truth. Fear is something that holds us back from our truth. The truth is that nobody should go through sexual harassment. A people should always believe the victim who claims he or she has been sexual harassed. Also the victims should have a right to a fair case. Nobody should be pushed to the side if they have a complaint of harassment. The workplace should be a safe area for people to come and work amongst others. People should have to feel scared to do their jobs. At parties, people should be able to go out and have a good time without having to feel uncomfortable. Also the gender barrier needs to be broken when it comes to sexual harassment. Men has fear just as much as women, when it comes to speaking up and self-pride. Statistically, the embarrassment for men is far greater than with women. Lastly, everyone deserves a chance to be heard.