How does sexual harassment occur in the workplace and how is it defined? How can victims defend their rights?

How to break the silence when encountering sexual harassment in the workplace?

The reporter interviewed a number of victims of sexual harassment in the workplace

Investigate motives

Recently, the well-known screenwriter Shi Hang was exposed to sexual harassment and caused heated discussions in the society. As the incident continued to ferment, more "victims" came forward to speak out, accusing Shi Hang of sexually harassing him. Shi Hang twice issued a rebuttal and posted chat records with some parties, saying that "the situation is not true" and "there is no sexual harassment, and I have had different degrees of interaction with several parties, including exes who have had stable relationships."

In fact, the topic of sexual harassment, especially sexual harassment in the workplace, has been hot in recent years. While many people are shameful and accuse sexual harassment in the workplace, they are also confused about what is the boundary between interpersonal communication and sexual harassment? Some parties were sexually harassed and reluctant for various reasons, while others found it difficult to defend their rights because they had no evidence. How to reduce or even eliminate sexual harassment in the workplace has become a major social issue.

How does sexual harassment occur in the workplace and how is it defined? How can victims defend their rights? How to control sexual harassment in accordance with laws and regulations? With these questions in mind, the reporter conducted investigative interviews.

□ Zhao Li, reporter of this newspaper

□ Intern Hu Miao

"Commenting on my physical appearance, intentionally or unconsciously, from time to time physical contact, using my boss to ask me to drink, and even asking me to accompany him to the movies at night. After I refused, I was criticized that 'young people don't know the rules of the workplace now'. "Post-00s" workplace newcomer Zhou Ning joined a company in Liaoning less than a week, and he felt that he had encountered sexual harassment in the workplace.

"How can I keep my job and let the other person know that I can't do this to me?" Zhou Ning asked the "Rule of Law Daily" reporter three times in an interview, and she had not yet talked to her parents about it, for fear that they would worry. If she couldn't solve the problem, whether she thought she was unlucky to quit and leave or fight back, she didn't think about it.

Zhou Ning's experience is not unique. Public reports show that sexual harassment in the workplace has been a long-standing problem, and many women have experienced it to varying degrees. Silence or outburst? It's a conundrum.

Recently, the reporter interviewed a number of parties who have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace, in order to find answers to this problem through their experiences.

Anyone can be a victim

In the eyes of many people, Song Yan's boss is a "good old man", harmless to humans and animals - gray hair in his 50s, always smiling, husband and wife love, daughter studying graduate school abroad.

But Song Yan knew the other party's dirtiness.

Song Yan joined a company in Gansu after graduating from undergraduate school, and once, she made a little mistake at work and was scolded by her boss, and then the boss apologized to her, comforted her and chatted for a while. After that, his boss often called Song Yan to his office to "show me his brush writing and share some so-called beautiful photos, including photos of women with their upper bodies naked."

"During this time, I have been comforting myself, and I can even say that I have prayed that I have been overhearted, which is the leader's 'love' for young employees." Song Yan said, but bad things still happened, one weekend, the boss took her to the dinner, she was asked to drink some alcohol, the boss drank a lot of alcohol, after the meal the driver drove them home, in the back seat, the boss began to move his hands and feet, she threw it off fiercely, the movement was very large.

"I feel very disgusting." Song Yan said that after a night of fierce ideological struggle, she resigned the next day.

A number of interviewees reported to reporters that in the workplace, pornographic jokes, verbal provocations, and sexual innuendo are relatively common forms of verbal sexual harassment, and this form of sexual harassment mostly occurs between colleagues at the same level, or the temptation of superiors to subordinates. Sexual harassment by way of conduct usually occurs between superiors and subordinates.

For verbal sexual harassment, many young interviewees, including Song Yan, said that they did not realize that it was workplace sexual harassment at first, but only felt embarrassed, and later reacted as their experience increased.

An interviewee who was sexually harassed by a colleague said: "Some male colleagues often open yellow words and talk about meat jokes in front of her, and some meat jokes do not understand what they mean at the time, and then female colleagues remind them to understand, which is very disgusting and unacceptable." This is obviously sexual harassment in the workplace. ”

Meals are often a frequent occurrence of verbal sexual harassment. Ms. Huang in Beijing told reporters that at a department meeting, a male colleague held the dishes on the table and said that he had aphrodisiac functions, "I went back to fight for 300 rounds at night" and "the bed couldn't stand it", etc., "I felt very embarrassed, pretending not to understand, the male colleague actually pointed at me and said, 'You must understand, you understand best', making other people laugh, I am disgusting." ”

Regarding behavioral sexual harassment, some interviewees said that some male leaders touched their shoulders and patted their backs to female colleagues, which made people particularly uncomfortable. What's more, after drinking, he put his hand on the thigh of his female colleague.

During the investigation, the reporter noticed that most of the interviewees said that they had experienced sexual harassment in the workplace more than once. All respondents agreed that being sexually harassed is not about looks, appearance, or dress, and that many women in the workplace may experience sexual harassment.

"I always thought I was the 'ugly and ugly, who will harass me' type. It wasn't until she was sexually harassed by a colleague that it became clear that sexual harassment could happen to any woman in the workplace. One respondent said.

The shadow of harassment lingers

After resigning, Song Yan decided to enter graduate school, "Encountering this kind of thing in my first job made me full of fear in the workplace." But even after two years have passed, when she sees an "old short and fat man" when she is in graduate school, she will still unconsciously retreat.

He Yichen, a lawyer at Tahota (Chongqing) Law Firm, who has repeatedly popularized knowledge of workplace sexual assault and rights protection on online platforms and has contacted many such victims, told reporters that workplace sexual harassment usually has the following situations: sending inappropriate photos or text to harass colleagues or subordinates; At the dinner, deliberately tell some jokes full of sexual innuendo, and persuade them to take advantage of the mobile hands and feet after drinking; Taking advantage of business trips, creating opportunities to be alone together, and calling rooms to the room at night to harass in the name of discussing work matters; Superiors take advantage of their positions to force subordinates to comply, and if they do not comply, they will suppress them.

In the interview, the reporter found that when encountering sexual harassment in the workplace, some victims will choose to be silent and calm down, some victims will actively collect evidence and wait for the opportunity, and some victims will fight violence with violence and fight back strongly. But in any case, workplace sexual harassment will form a shadow in the victim's mind, and these shadows may cause the victim to have antipathy and even fear of the company, industry, and group where the victim works.

A number of interviewees told reporters that when they encountered verbal sexual harassment, they were "overwhelmed" at first, and then it was difficult to let go. Sexual harassment in behavior, such as slight touching and slapping, is extremely disgusting, but some people will avoid and politely remind them that "such behavior is inappropriate" due to the difference in the level of leaders and subordinates, and some people directly choose to leave their jobs due to physical harassment, "because they can't imagine facing it again and again at work in the future."

As a victim of sexual harassment in the workplace, Liu Ping believes that escaping is not a good way, she said with deep feelings: "For verbal sexual harassment, if you just roll your eyes, he will think that you are trying to get away with it, and may intensify it next time, because verbal harassment such as pornographic jokes is a 'obedience test' and a temptation for workplace sexual harassers." ”

"When you encounter this situation, you should fight back directly, if you don't teach him a lesson, he will feel that it is nothing, and he has to make an inch." Liu Ping said that when encountering behavioral sexual harassment, it is more important to resist.

Some interviewees even said that in order to avoid sexual harassment in the workplace, they used extreme ways to protect themselves. An interviewee who works in marketing said that she had more contact with liquor bureaus, and spread rumors that she had hidden diseases and had been taking medicine, so that others did not dare to harass her.

It is still difficult to prove that you have been sexually harassed

After being admitted to graduate school, Song Yan told his parents about his experience of being harassed, and his parents' attitudes were diametrically opposite, his mother felt that the matter had passed, and his father thought that evidence should be collected to report and make the other party pay.

Song Yan also wanted to report it, but there was no evidence.

"It's normal to chat through social software. When he moved, I just resisted, but there was no audio or video recording of the process. What do I use to report it? Song Yan said.

In fact, after feeling sexually harassed, Zhou Ning once approached the company's human resources director and vaguely asked, "Who should I turn to if I am violated during my work"? The other party said that he should first find a direct leader, and then talk about it if he can't solve it. "It makes me feel like it's useless to find a human resources department."

Many interviewees said that it was not that they were weak, but that they had no evidence, and finally chose to resign. Some interviewees also raised the question of who to defend their rights when sexual harassment in the workplace is not bad enough to a certain extent? In reality, because sexual harassment in the workplace is difficult to characterize and collect evidence, if the evidence is insufficient and it is publicized, it is easy to be regarded as "fuss".

"The evidence is insufficient, and you may even be bitten back and programmed into a joke by others." An interviewee who had been sexually harassed by a superior told reporters that he finally chose to call the police.

At the same time, some people choose silence because they consider how their colleagues and relatives view their problems, on the one hand, they are afraid that their families are worried about themselves, and on the other hand, they are afraid that they will misunderstand themselves, think that they are not doing their jobs, and their social relations are chaotic.

"When I plucked up the courage to tell my parents that I was sexually harassed by the leader, my parents just asked me to protect myself and change jobs, and did not support me to call the police or make a statement, for fear of affecting my reputation." One interviewee said that such an attitude made her feel "aggrieved" and "unacceptable", and what she needed more was encouragement and support, giving her the courage to fight back.

"According to the survey, the incidence of sexual harassment in the workplace is high, and the number of complaints is very small, and even fewer cases are actually filed after the complaint." Li Ying, director of Beijing Yuanzhong Family and Community Development Service Center, said frankly.

Many respondents said that after experiencing sexual harassment in the workplace, the sexual harassment prevention system formulated by their employer did not make them feel "supported". "Although there are channels for help, many of the content in the channels for help are stylized, giving people a very cold feeling, being sexually harassed, ordinary employees are already in a weak position, and the relevant system regulations do not reflect humanistic care." Zhou Ning said.

"Encountering sexual harassment in the workplace can defend their rights and interests through legal channels, but they face the dilemma of difficult proof, especially sexual harassment in physical behavior, which is different from text or images, which have electronic traces, and often occur in sudden situations, which is relatively secretive." He Yichen said that some victims also lack awareness of evidence collection, especially in the workplace, when victims face sexual harassment with higher status and more resources, they are often unable to strongly refuse, and even helplessly "talk and laugh" with the perpetrator, which is a manifestation of the dilemma of sexual harassment cases. (The victims of sexual harassment in the Rule of Law Daily article are pseudonyms)