Introduction:
The term sexual harassment refers to unwanted sexual proceedings, a vulgar remark, attention, and / or signals. It can be verbal or non-verbal. Sexual harassment also includes any kinds of pressure by seniors on his/her subordinates to respond the sexual advancements to protect or get promoted at the workplace. Sexual harassment of women along with men has been emerged as a serious issue in recent times. It is something which is not easily digestible for many but a number of incidents suggest that the issue has become a matter of concern. It has always been believed that the women are harassed sexually at workplaces and they are subjected to sexual exploitations at various occasions. The traditional opinion needs to be changed because today women are also at good positions everywhere and a number of incidents suggest that employees or subordinates working under them are harassed. The problem becomes more serious when after being harassed men can not share the agony because a large number of people still think that women can not harass men. This paper discusses the several aspects related to the issue of sexual harassment in case of both men and women.
Women have been always targeted and harassed sexually but in recent times the incidents of men sexual harassments are becoming dime a dozen. Roberta Chinsky Matuson, a human resource expert says “Many people mistakenly believe that harassment is limited to females, the truth is that this type of experience is just as damaging to men.”
Statement of Problem:
The study will be focused on sexual harassment against men and women. What are the reasons for those incidents and how organizations react to those cases? The paper will examine the approaches taken by organizations in sexual harassment cases.
Discussion:
Male vs. Female
The problem of sexual stabbing is common for both male and female. Based on some facts available the sexual stabbing faced by males in America is around 5 to 10 percent. Few experts believe that one out of ten men faced such kind of trouble in their life. It may come as a surprise for many people because sexual harassment of male is not very much in the news and people do not discuss it very commonly.
The kinds of sexual stabbing faced by males are more or less similar as faced by women. Men also faced sexual stabbing by single or group of people. Some time they are known but sometimes they are stranger also. Men also faced stabbing by female as well as by same sex people but more frequent by same sex. Since it’s difficult to control male without his own wish, people use weapons, threat, and physical strength. People at higher positions in the organizations or in any industry also try to get benefit of power and use males by making some promises of promotion or better appraisal and the like. Like female, male also get blackmailed by using any wrong act or any secret they done in past as a weapon. If men are physically very strong, people use drugs or any other chemical to prevent fighting. It does not matter that someone is male or female such kind of act can disturb the mental balance and leave impact on people for lifetime.
One common misconception among people is that only men who are having dissimilar sex orientation or gay tends to sexually assault other men. Some research done in the field tells that sex orientation can not be linked with sexual stabbing. Sexual stabbing is more related with superiority, power, violence and anger. The incidents where the reason for sexual assault was desire are very minimal.
If we look at the data the cases filled for male sexual assault in year 1980 were 8 percent which increased to 16 percent in year 2009. The main reason for sexual stabbing in the cases where male were stabbed by female was better appraisal and evaluation for example the case Casiano Vs. AT&T Corporation in year 2000. If we go back to the history we will find that the first case of Male Sexual Stabbing was filled in year 1995. The case was filed against Domino’s Pizza, female manager harassed his male subordinate. As the society is getting more mature the cases of male sexual stabbing are rising and males are not hesitating in filling case against women. Our today’s society is ready to punish those females who are sexually stabbing male and destroying their mental state and life.
The incidents of Sexual assaults are not a fun but people reactions changed when it comes for a female and when it come for a male. For women the scenario is not similar as male. In case of female employee it’s not only her seniors who take the benefit but male dominated workplace also contributes. Women considered as more delicate and easy to target. For male the cases are very limited but for female it’s daily news.
Organizational Approach:
Each and every organization has well defined sexual harassment policy and takes action as per the policy. Organizations have more defined policies for female worker as compared to male worker. In some developing and undeveloped countries, majority of the organizations do not have even any policy for male harassment. Organizations use various approaches to deal with such type of situation.
Avoidance – once the problem is reported for potential incident, organization some time avoid it or change the job profile and location of people involved.
Social Coping – organizations try to manage the situation by asking intervention from friend or some time they provide medical or experts counseling.
Confrontation – in this approach organization asked harasser not to do this otherwise he will face consequences like ob termination or demotion.
Legal Remedy – when situation very large or out of control, they seek for legal help.
For women the scope of sexual assault is much wider than men. Certain behaviors which may be a case of sexual assault for men, considered as a sexual assault for females. The lesser number of incidents of sexual harassment against men and wide scope of sexual harassment against women make organization to have much more effective and well defined sexual harassment policy for women employees. Majority of the organization take sexual harassment case very seriously irrespective of gender because of its impact and consequences. Such cases not only damage the image of organization but also impact the other employees who are working in organization which may result in less productivity and de-motivation.
Conclusion:
References
Gilbert, D., Guerrier, Y. and Guy, J. (1998). Sexual harassment issues in the hospitality industry. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management , 48-53.
Grainger, H. and Fitzner, G. (2006). Fair treatment at work survey 2005. London: Department of Trade and Industry.
North, A. (2010, March 4). Jezebel. Retrieved March 25, 2012, from www.jezebel.com: http://jezebel.com/5485603/she-would-caress-his-shoulders-and-neck-female-sexual-harassment-gets-its-moment
ScienceDaily. (2007, April 3). Retrieved March 25, 2012, from www.sciencedaily.com: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070403184604.htm
