Harassment
The REACH Center, Inc
Serving Survivors of Crime and Abuse
518-828-5556 Hudson
518-943-4482 Catskill

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Center
All Services are FREE and Confidential
 Counseling and support for survivors of
all types of crime/abuse/violence and their
friends and family
 Education on the prevention of
crime/abuse/violence
 Advocacy, Accompaniments, Referrals
and Information

Types of Harassment
Bullying
Stalking
Sexual Harassment
Racial Harassment
Religious Harassment
Disability Harassment
Sexual Orientation Harassment
Cases of Physical Assault

SEXUAL
HARASSMENT

Sexual Harassment
 Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination
that violates
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
 Repeated unwelcome sexual advances, requests
for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical
conduct of a sexual nature constitutes sexual
harassment when submission to or rejection of
this conduct affects an individual's school
performance, unreasonably interferes with an
individual's school performance or creates an
intimidating, hostile or offensive school
environment.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission 2008

Facts About Sexual Harassment:
 The victim as well as the harasser may be a
woman or a man. The victim does not have to be
of the opposite sex.
 The harasser can be the victim's teacher, an agent
of the school, or another student.
 The victim does not have to be the person
harassed but could be anyone affected by the
offensive conduct.
 Unlawful sexual harassment may occur without
threats, monetary gain, or fear.
 The use of text messing, picture mail, IM, ect. to
spread sexual information/rumors is sexual
harassment
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission 2008

Quid pro quo (in Latin it means
“this for that”)
Quid pro quo sexual harassment occurs when
a teacher or school employee offers you a
better grade or treats you better if you do
something sexual. It could also be a threat
to lower your grade or treat you worse
than other students if you refuse to go along
with a request for a sexual favor. For
example, if your teacher says, “I’ll give you
an ‘A’ if you go out with me,” or “I’ll fail you
in this class if you don’t have sex with me,”
this is sexual harassment.
2008 Equal Rights Advocates, Inc. All Rights
Reserved

Hostile Environment
Hostile environment sexual harassment occurs
when unwanted sexual touching, comments, and/
or gestures are so bad or occur so often that it
interferes with your schoolwork, makes you feel
uncomfortable or unsafe at school, or prevents
you from participating in or benefiting from a
school program or activity. This type of
harassment does not have to involve a threat or
promise of benefit in exchange for a sexual favor.
The harassment can be from your teacher,
school officials, or other students.

Why People Harass
 Harassment is about power and control
over others
 Insecurity and self esteem
 Prove superiority or thinking the
behavior is cool
 Lack of clear communication on what is
acceptable

Effects of Harassment
 Decline is self-image and self-confidence
 Physical problems(nausea, headaches,
sleeplessness, etc)
 Skipping class, school, work, avoiding the
situation
 Ashamed, self-blame, angry, helplessness,
depression

Why People Don’t Tell
 About 75-80% of the time people try to
ignore the behavior thinking it will stop
 Fear of not being believed or
repercussions by peers
 Fear that nothing will be done, or they
will be blamed
 Embarrassed by the situation
 Afraid it will get worse

THE LAW AND TITLE
IX

It’s Against The Law
The federal law prohibiting sexual harassment in
schools is Title IX of the Education Amendments of
1972 (Title IX), which prohibits any person, on the
basis of sex, to be subjected to discrimination in an
educational program or activity receiving federal
financial assistance. The law applies to any academic,
extracurricular (student organizations and athletics),
research, occupational training, and other educational
programs from pre-school to graduate school that
receives or benefits from federal funding. The entire
institution falls under Title IX even if only one
program or activity receives federal funds.
2008 Equal Rights Advocates, Inc. All Rights
Reserved

School Policy
Under Title IX, a school is required to have and
distribute a policy against sex discrimination,
particularly one that addresses sexual
harassment. Such a policy lets students, parents,
and employees know that sexual harassment will
not be tolerated. A school is also required to
adopt and publish grievance procedures for
resolving sex discrimination complaints, including
complaints of sexual harassment. This provides
an effective means for promptly and
appropriately responding to sexual harassment
complaints.
2008 Equal Rights Advocates, Inc. All Rights
Reserved

WHAT TO DO

How To Handle Harassment
 Write everything down
 Tell the person to STOP
 Get help
 Write a letter to the harasser
 Contact a school official about the
harassment
 Talk with your parents or another
trusted adult about the situation

Harassment is NEVER the victim’s
fault and the victim is not to
blame. You have a right to live
free of sexual harassment. It is
the school’s responsibility to
provide you with a safe learning
environment.

Questions
 What types of sexual harassment happens
at this school?
 What are ways that boys sexually harass?
 What are ways that girls sexually harass?
 What is the difference between flirting
and harassing?