How To Spot Male Sexual Harassment

Knowing how to spot male sexual harassment can be an essential tool in today’s workplace. Each year there are more and more cases of male sexual harassment in the work place. Part of this is because there are more female supervisors and men are less ashamed to come forward about abuse. Any form of sexual harassment is a very sensitive area and you should know what to look for to avoid mistakes.

1.  Understand what male sexual harassment is. Sexual harassment is any unwanted sexual contact. This can include: sexual jokes, unwanted sexual advances, request for sexual favors (even if in a joking manor) and sexual gestures. This behavior becomes sexual harassment when it is unwanted by one of the parties and affects that person’s ability to work. The person affected by the sexual harassment is always male but he is not always the person that is being harassed. Sometimes with male sexual harassment it is just a co-worker of the person being harassed that is also affected.
2. Understand who the harasser can be. In short the harasser can be anyone. They can be either male or female. They don’t have to be a supervisor of the victim but that is the most common. The harasser doesn’t have to even be an employee of the company. A common trend is for it to be a non-employee. This kind of harasser can even be worse because it usually affects more than one employee.
3. Understand that male sexual harassment can happen at any time. If you think you have a male co-worker that is showing signs of being harassed, the harasser doesn’t have to be someone new. It can be someone that the victim has worked along side for years. Sometimes harasser over step boundaries or something about their working relationship changes.
4. Understand how sensitive the subject is. It is usually harder for male victims to come forward compared to female victims. For there to documentation of the harassment then the victim will have to come forward about the abuse or confirm that the abuse has taken place. The best way to spot male sexual harassment is to be an understanding person in the workplace that the victim will open up to.