Sexual harassment results in the sexualization of the victim, who can feel objectified or humiliated. Work or school performance can suffer and it can affect the future career goals of the victim. Relationships between the victim and loved ones can suffer and those who accuse the perpetrator are sometimes the subject of attacks by others. There are widespread losses of trust on the part of the victim. Physical problems can result as a part of being repeatedly harassed. PTSD, social withdrawal, and suicidal ideation or behaviors can occur. Surprisingly, the victim turned accuser faces problems almost as big as not reporting the crime. Women who work with the accuser are often hostile or simply back off from the victim, which adds to a feeling of isolation. Aspects of the victim’s life are put under scrutiny. They may lose friends as part of reporting the crime. Retaliation is always a possibility the victim can face. Sometimes, however, there will be others who will later come forward to report similar experiences. Many countries have laws that say sexual harassment is a form of abuse and that it is illegal to do this in the workplace. The European Union and the United States have relatively clear laws in support of the victim and condemning workplace harassment. China and Egypt have also developed laws against it but it remains legal in other places in the Middle East. Most of these laws are relatively recent and there are variable interpretations of what constitutes harassment and what the punishments should be
SEXUAL ASSAULT In this section and in the next sections, we will talk about sexual assault and the forms it comes in. It involves any act in which a person is sexually touched by another, often without the victim’s consent or because of coercion of the victim. Sexual assault can involve rape, groping, sexual torture, and child sexual abuse. In general, sexual assault involves some type of sexual contact. Sexual contact through a person’s clothing without their consent is considered sexual assault. The definition of consent assumes that the victim is not incapacitated by drugs or by intellectual deficits. There are several types of sexual assault, some of which are discussed later in this chapter. Child sexual abuse is sexual assault perpetrated upon a child and can include
194
