SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN THE WORKPLACE.

IS COMPLIMENTING SOMEONE HARASSMENT? 

Growing up, Kinene was a very shy but ‘cute’ boy who liked being around girls but did not really know how to talk to them. As he went through school, this changed, and he became a Casanova who liked to compliment and ‘woo’ girls at every outing. So, it came as  a shock to him last week when he complimented Hajara and she said that he had harassed her. Kinene wants to know what she meant by harassment.  

WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY? 

Harassment is anything done to a person that makes this person feel intimidated or under pressure. First, it must be unwelcomed by that person. For example, if someone utters threats because you want to hear them then you are not being harassed. However, what we want to look at today, is sexual harassment.  

 Harassment becomes sexual if a person makes any unwelcome direct or indirect sexual advances towards someone else. These can be either verbal or physical toward another person. For example, if Kinene starts to compliment a woman about her breasts, says something inappropriate or even touches any part of her body intentionally, all this amounts to the sexual harassment of that person. 

Therefore, it is important before you start making comments, or physically touching someone to be sure that there is express and explicit permission from that person to either talk to them a certain way or to physically engage with them. It may not be wise to assume that because someone was smiling at you or being polite to you, they are ok with whatever you want to do.

https://theinformersdotcom.wordpress.com/2022/06/23/sexual-harassment-in-the-workplace/

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