Types of harassment!
Dear reader,
To start our blog about school safety regarding harassment, we need to know more about harassment itself. What is it? Are there different types of it? How is it related to school? We will find it out in the following paragraphs.
What is harassment? Â
Harassment is considered any improper and unwelcome activity that might cause humiliation and offense to someone else. It can be perceived in many different formats, some of which we'll be talking about today. The ones we are discussing are:
Physical harassment;
Sexual harassment;
Discriminatory harassment;
Verbal abuse;
Bullying.
Physical harassment: This is considered any type of action that can be related to violence, threats, and physical attacks. When it gets to extreme cases, it can even be considered Sexual harassment. Some examples of physical assault are unnecessary touching, blackmailing, threats, assaults, damage of personal property, intention to harm or humiliate, and following or standing too near a person without its consent, all of it is Physical harassment. There are some occasions where it depends fully on both people in the situation. For example, fun shoving someone. For some, it might be considered innocuous, but for some, it might be harmful. Consequently, we need to have communication to know if people are comfortable or not with those types of jokes.Â
Sexual harassment: According to the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission), Sexual harassment is any unwelcome sexual advance, requests for sexual favors, and verbal and physical conduct with sexual intention. Depending on the circumstances, both people might agree and feel comfortable with any conduct of a sexual nature, but it fully depends on how the person feels and sees it. Unwelcome does NOT mean involuntary. People who commit sexual harassment have the intention to do something sexual and are willing to get your attention. For example, a man whistles at a woman when she walks by. Or a woman looks a man up and down when he walks towards her. Some other examples of sexual harassment are actual or attempted rape or sexual assault, unwanted sexual looks and gestures, cat calls, personal questions about social or sexual life, touching or rubbing oneself sexually around another person, etc.
Discriminatory harassment: According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Discriminatory harassment is any unwelcome offensive conduct that is directed at an individual because of their identity. Identity refers to race, sex, age, disability, religion, national origin, color, reprisal, genetic information, sexual orientation, and status. Discriminatory harassment can be verbal, physical, or non-verbal and, when talking about this type of harassment, it all depends on how the conduct is perceived by a reasonable employee, instead of the person who engaged in the conduct. Some examples of discriminatory harassment are epithets, slurs, jokes, negative stereotyping, or threatening, intimidating, or hostile acts that relate to a person's identity.
Verbal abuse: Also known as emotional abuse, verbal abuse is the range of words, actions, and behaviors used to manipulate, intimidate, and maintain power over someone. These actions of verbal abuse, include insults, humiliation and ridicule, the silent treatment, and attempts to scare, isolate, and control. It doesn't need to be directed at someone, but actions like slamming doors, throwing things, destroying belongings, or harming pets are considered verbal or emotional abuse because they are used to intimidate.
Bullying: The United Nations describes Bullying as "the intentional and aggressive behavior occurring repeatedly against a victim where there is a real or perceived power imbalance." Bullying can be described as any type of harassment. It can be physical harassment, verbal abuse, discriminatory harassment, etc. It can be verbal, with teasing, insulting, and threatening; it can be physical, with hitting, kicking, and the destruction of property; and it can be relational, through the spreading of rumors and exclusion from a group.
When we talk about harassment in schools, we need to be careful to not offend anyone. But we also need to pay attention and be careful so that it doesn't happen to ourselves and our colleagues. In the following posts of the blog and Instagram account, we will be addressing more specifically how harassment in schools happens, how they are shown to society, and how we can protect ourselves and others.
REMINDER: Whenever you are being a victim of any type of abuse, it is NEVER your fault. Sometimes it isn't noticeable, but people who commit any type of harassment are usually manipulative and convincing. If you're ever going through it, know that there will always be someone by your side willing to help.Â
Stay safe!Â
SOURCES:
https://www.getimpactly.com/post/most-common-types-of-harassment
https://www.getimpactly.com/post/physical-harassment
https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/signs-verbal-abuse#
https://violenceagainstchildren.un.org/content/bullying-and-cyberbullying-0#:~:text=The%20unwanted%20behaviour%20is%20hurtful,and%20exclusion%20from%20a%20group.
https://www.un.org/womenwatch/uncoordination/antiharassment.html#:~:text=Harassment%20is%20any%20improper%20and,or%20humiliation%20to%20another%20person.