Editorial January 6, 1997 Issue

Sexual harassment: an honest discussion

Mary Metzner Trammell

Sexual harassment happens in countries around the globe—from Canada to Romania to Japan to Scotland to the United States. And it happens both ways: men harass women, and women harass men. But most often, it's women who are on the receiving end of the sexual innuendoes and acts of aggression.

This form of bullying occurs in households and in many public settings: in offices, police departments, labor unions, the military, construction sites, schools. Research tells us, too, that sexual harassment often starts early in life. Nearly half the thirteen- to sixteen-year-olds in America, in a random sample, say they've been harassed.^{Connie Kuhns, "Sins of our times: Sexual harassment and boyhood," The Vancouver Sun, October 18, 1996.}

Exactly what forms does sexual harassment take? Here are typical scenarios, all factual:

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