The sexual harassment is that behavior in which a person performs unwanted advances of a sexual nature towards another person. It can be presented in the workplace, educational context, as well as in the street or public spaces.
A sexual assault is that action of a sexual nature against a person, without their consent, in which there is physical contact and use of force, physical violence, threats or intimidation. Sexual assault is considered a felony in many jurisdictions.
For his part, sexual abuse is an action or conduct of a sexual nature against the sexual freedom of a person who he is unable to indulge her, in which no direct physical violence or intimidation is used. The victims are mostly minors, which is why it is also considered a serious crime in many countries.
How each of these behaviors is legally interpreted varies slightly from country to country. However, sexual harassment, assault and abuse are generally considered forms of sexual violence, where there is never consent from the victims.
Despite the fact that anyone can be a victim of sexual violence, in the vast majority of cases the victims are women or minors, while the aggressors are usually men or older than the victims..
| sexual harassment | Sexual assault | Sexual abuse | |
| Definition | It is the act of making advances, physical contact or asking for favors of an unwanted sexual nature, verbally, non-verbally and physically. | It is an action that involves non-consensual sexual contact through force, physical violence or threat. | It is the act of a sexual nature directed against a person without their consent, in which physical violence or direct intimidation is not used. |
| Characteristics |
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| Perpetrators | They can be known or unknown, mostly men. | Relatives, acquaintances and strangers, mostly men. | They are generally family members and acquaintances, mostly men and older people to the victim. |
| Main victims | They are mostly adult women and adolescents. | Generally women of all ages. | They are mostly girls and boys, as well as adolescents. |
| Examples | A person makes obscene gestures and uses lewd language directed at another person when walking down the street, without their request. | Forcibly taking a person against their will and committing a sexual act. | Manipulating a child to view pornographic material. |
The sexual harassment is defined as any behavior in which there is non-consensual sexual advances on a physical, verbal or non-verbal level (gestures), by one person against another person.
This type of harassment includes requests for sexual favors and creates a hostile social context for the victim, who may feel threatened by rejecting such advances.
Harassment is aggressive behavior, in which the harasser constantly intimidates or attacks the victim, in order to intimidate, control or cause harm. The stalker makes advances, threatens, blackmails, makes unwelcome physical approaches, with the intention of obtaining sexual favors.
Both the United Nations (UN), the European Union, the International Labor Organization (ILO) and other international organizations consider sexual harassment as a form of sexual discrimination that especially affects women women.
In this way, those States that are part of these international organizations and their various agreements seek to eliminate harassment in all its forms..
See also:
The term harassment quid pro quo refers to a type of harassment in which there is a hierarchy between stalker and victim. This type of sexual harassment is generally associated with work environment (although it can occur in any context in which there is a position of power of one of the parties, for example, teacher and student).
The expression quid pro quo comes from Latin and means 'this in exchange for that'. In this way, harassment quid pro quo refers to a type of harassment that involves the use of blackmail.
In this particular type of sexual harassment, someone in a position of power asks for favors and uses coercion against the victim. For example, when a secretary feels that her job is at stake or that she may suffer from a problem of not consenting to the sexual behavior of her boss.
The sexual assault refers to the action against the sexual freedom of a person that involves physical contact, through the use of force, physical violence, threat or intimidation.
This type of action implies that there is physical contact with the victim without their consent. The form in which the sexual assault occurs can be violent or through blackmail or threats.
Likewise, as a crime, and depending on the jurisdiction, it is considered if there is any type of penetration of body members or objects in the contact (even if the victim is a man and the aggressor is a woman). In this case, this sexual assault is considered a rape crime..
The vast majority of victims of sexual assault are women. However, even if it is in smaller numbers, men can also be and are victims of sexual assault.
In general, it can be considered sexual abuse as that action or sexual behavior against a person and without their consent, in which no use of physical violence or intimidation.
From the general population, minors (boys, girls and adolescents) are especially vulnerable because they cannot consent to this type of behavior and acts. It is common for the abuser to use different tactics, such as manipulation and deception, in order to manipulate the victims.
Other victims of sexual abuse may be people with a physical or mental disability, since, in many cases, it is not possible for them to provide consent. Likewise, people under the influence of alcohol and other drugs who are unable to consent may become victims of sexual abuse..
Abuse implies the misuse of an object, element, position of power, etc., in such a way that the action causes some damage to something or someone. Thus, abuse supposes an imbalance of power within a relationship (family, colleagues, work).
In this type of act, the victim is unable to express consent, for being in a state of health, physical or mental that makes it incapable of doing so. Likewise, it also occurs when the victim feels that she cannot refuse to take part in a sexual act, directly or indirectly (forced to witness a sexual act).
It's important pointing that the definition of sexual abuse varies by law from each State and from different organizations. For example, sexual abuse may also be interpreted or defined as an act in which physical violence is present. That is why it is recommended forever review relevant legislation for specific cases.
When it comes to sexual abuse as a crime, each state defines the act and its nature relatively differently. However, a common factor is that crimes classified as “sexual abuse” include sexual acts where the main victims are minors.
Minors are particularly vulnerable because are unable to understand the situation, nor the abuse to which they are being subjected. These acts produce serious psychological problems in the victims..
Organizations such as the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) affirm that sexual abuse against minors is one of the most serious forms of violence against children.
According to UNICEF, one of the great problems in detecting this type of abuse is that the victims often do not know how to communicate it, suffer coercion, are afraid or are manipulated into keeping silence. In addition, it is often not possible to physically identify the signs of it..
Relatives and people close to the victim make up the majority of abusers. Also, these abusers are generally male and older than the victims. In the case of the victims, these are mostly women, girls and adolescents.
However, not all abusers are adults. Despite being older than the victims, a considerable part of the abusers are minors.
The moment force or physical violence is used in a situation of sexual abuse, this is considered a aggravating circumstance for sentencing in most jurisdictions.
The World Health Organization, in the World Report on Violence and Health (2002) defines sexual violence as:
“Any sexual act, the attempt to commit a sexual act, unwanted sexual comments or innuendo, or actions to market or otherwise use a person's sexuality through coercion by another person, regardless of their relationship with the victim, in any setting, including the home and workplace. "
Thus, sexual harassment, abuse and assaults are forms of sexual violence. Furthermore, these are not mutually exclusive, occurring transversely. This means that there may be a situation of sexual abuse that ends in an act of sexual assault. In the same way as in a hostile environment created by harassment, the chances of a sexual assault increase.
The relationship between the victim and the perpetrator of sexual violence can be horizontal (between work or study colleagues), descending (an older person and a minor) or ascending (a subordinate and an authority figure).
Different international organizations (UN, ILO, UNICEF), as well as public, private and civil society initiatives are constantly fighting to eliminate sexual violence in all its forms.
The vast majority are usually women and minors. However, men can also be victims of sexual violence. Victims are generally characterized by being in a relationship in which there is an imbalance of power, or because the person exercising sexual violence considers that they have power over the victim, or that the victim lacks self-determination..
This type of relationship can be of the type employee / boss, student / teacher, daughter / father, among others.
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