Another type of harassment that is common worldwide is verbal harassment. Verbal harassment is unwanted verbal comments which make a person feel bad or unsafe.
Almost everyone has heard of, of known, someone who has been verbally abused. Verbal abuse is often more difficult to see since there are rarely any visible scars. It is often less visible scars simply because the abuse may take place in private. In public, the victim is with one person. While in private, the abuser may become a completely different person. Normally, the perpetrator of verbal abuse is male and the victim is female, but not always. In many cases, there are many examples of women who are quite verbally abusive also. A new study by Florida State University researchers have found that people who were verbally abused as children grow up to be self-critical adults prone to depression and anxiety.
In addition to physical and verbal harassment, another well-known type is sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is any unwelcome attention of a sexual nature. Some examples of sexual harassment include unwanted jokes, gestures, comments, touching, grabbing, requests for dates, displaying sexually suggestive objects or pictures. Sexual Harassment is considered a form of illegal discrimination and is a form of abuse. Approximately 15,000 sexual harassment cases are brought to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission each year. Government surveys estimate the percentage of women being sexually harassed in the U.S. workplace at 40-60%. While the majority of sexual harassment complaints come from women, the numbers of complaints filed by men are rapidly increasing. Over 15% if EEOC complaints were filed by men with 11% of claims involving men filing against female supervisors, in 2004. Sexual harassment in the work setting is a very big problem today. It is a problem that hasn’t drawn much attention until now. More and more cases have been brought up today than ever before. We hear about harassment cases in the papers almost everyday. There are two types of sexual harassment in the work force. The first type is known as quid pro quo or “this for that.” It can only be committed by someone who can make for influence employment actions, such as firing. The second type is referred to a hostile environment. Examples of hostile environment include unwelcome remarks, invasion of one’s space, stares, and humor.
If you are being harassed, the first thing you should do is tell the harasser to stop immediately in a firm tone. Go to a teacher, family member, or counselor and tell him or her what kind of situation you are in. Fill out a form at either a school or police station to let them know what’s going on. Keep records about everything that is happening. Record dates, times, names of witnesses, and any other information that might help. Many support groups exist for people that have been physically, emotionally, verbally, and sexually abused or harassed. I strongly urge anyone who has been through any kind of harassment to fight against it and to help stop it worldwide. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is common when someone is harassed for a long period of time. It is a severe and ongoing emotional reaction to an extreme psychological trauma. This stressor may involve someone’s actual death or a threat to someone’s life, serious physical injury to a degree that usual psychological defenses are incapable of coping. After analyzing the information I have collected about physical, verbal, and sexual harassment, I strongly believe it is wrong, and should not be tolerated anywhere at anytime.