Sexual Sexual Sexual HARASSMENT

The #MeToo movement did a lot of good for bringing attention to the huge problem of sexual assault in this country. Unfortunately, the idea that penis owners somehow have a right to vagina owners bodies is still a thing. You would think in a developed country like the US, it wouldn’t be an issue anymore, but here we are.

Sexual harassment is a cousin/sister/brother to sexual assault, but it can be a lot more subtle. It’s also a LOT more common.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission defines sexual harassment as; “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 explicitly or implicitly affects an individual’s employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.” Sexual harassment is illegal, but we still seem to put up with it way too often.

Sexual harassment is most commonly against vagina owners by penis owners. There are all sorts of stories out there about sexual harassment against women. For instance, one woman was tortured by her male colleagues while she pumped in a restroom, having to endure comments about how much larger her breasts were now. Another story is of a lesbian who was fired by her male boss under suspicious circumstances after refusing to give him a blow job. These are SUPER obvious cases.

However, it can be much less obvious in some situations. How about one of my patients whose male boss kept yelling at her for being a pussy while she’s on her period? Or my patient, who is constantly hit on by men at her work as a server at a breakfast joint? Or that one time in medical school when a male dermatologist told me my boyfriend was lying to me about his penis size when I placed my sutures too close together? These are all sexual harassment, and we shouldn’t be tolerating them! There are definitely cases against penis owners too, which shouldn’t be discounted. They’re even less likely to get documented and handled than against vagina owners.