Verbal harassment

Verbal harassment THE SUN AN exhaustive study of more than 1,000 employees in the Czech Republic has found that words, not deeds, are the most common components of sexual harassment in the workplace. "The most frequent forms of sexual harassment are verbal incursions into one's personal life, sexual hints, banter and comments," said the study commissioned by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. "One-half to two-thirds of the population encounters this type of sexual harassment." Unlike often blatant incidents of unwanted touching or glaring, the women and men questioned in a nationwide series of focus groups noted that verbal harassment comes in all shapes and sizes. Although mutual flirting and office-group conversations with "bawdy chatter is absolutely a common part of life in some organisations," said the study, many workers feel victimised in specific situations, such as when men working in a project team with women use speech with sexual overtones. Moreover, 60% of women and 40% of men said they were embarrassed by off-colour jokes at work. According to the study's five authors from the Czech Academy of Sciences, an especially serious but common problem occurs when a woman is intimidated by sexual suggestions from a male boss in economically depressed areas. Superiors who prey on female employees often get away with dirty talk and more in areas where high unemployment forces women into silent submission. However, men are just as likely to be victims of verbal harassment. Intimidating "gossip and slander" of a sexual nature has affected 56% of the men who participated in the study compared with 57% of women. Other forms of communication harassment include phone calls and emails. Nearly 18% of participants said they had received unwanted, erotic pictures by email from a colleague, and 9% were harassed on the phone. On the other hand, about 28% of the participants said they had experienced "involuntary body contact" at work and 2% said they had been physically assaulted. Since the term "sexual harass ment" is usually associated with physical contact, only one-fourth of the par ticipants said they consider themselves genuine victims of the phenomenon at work. But while a pinch or an abusive stare usually lasts only a second or two at most, the negative affects of harassing speech can build over time and eventually lead to physical molestation. "Sexual harassment often has a cumulative character, growing step by step from less expressive to more severe for ms," the study said. This gradual buildup prompted the authors of the study to suggest employers prohibit "sexually tuned behaviour and communication", if they want to eliminate "hard forms of sexual harassment". However, because sexually harassing speech is so widespread, the study said many workers who feel victimised try a more common and perhaps practical solution to the problem ?hunting for another job. ?dpa