Sexual Harassment. Can You Regonize It?

Picture courtesy of life123.com 

It was 1983 when a young newlywed, Laura Cardillo from the Bronx, was working at her dead-end, 9-to-5 job saving up for a new house with her hubby. Her manager called her into his office and told her to sit. She thought this was strange but waited to see what he had to talk to her about. He quickly closed the door behind her and scrambled behind his desk. He then pulled out a Playboy magazine from his top right draw and told Cardillo to “check this out.” In disgust
Cardillo quickly ran out of her manager’s office and they never spoke a word about it after.

Cardillo didn’t realize it at the time, but she was the victim of sexual harassment. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. Sexual harassment includes touching, making crude comments, suggestive remarks, teasing or taunting of a sexual nature, unwelcome physical conduct or sexual advances, continual use of offensive language, sexual bantering, bragging about sexual prowess, office or locker room pin-ups, and compliments with sexual overtones.

Women aren’t the only victims dealing with sexual harassment in the workplace. Gays/lesbians, Racism, Man to man, or customer and client complaints are now on the rise as well.

Sexual harassment is something that is not clearly understood by many and the problem is exacerbated because women are afraid to report it because their harassers are usually their bosses, and in some cases women who are bosses sometimes receive harassment for their high status. Being afraid or unaware lets many sexual harassment problems escalate and continue.

Mauricio Velasquez, President and CEO of The Diversity Training Group, which is a sexual harassment prevention center in Herndon Virginia, says Women typically do not report harassment because of, “fear of retribution. Fear of being blamed. Fear no one will listen. Fear of blaming the victim.”

A recent poll including 782 U.S. workers conducted by Louis Harris, shows that 31 percent of female workers reported harassment in the workplace when only 7 percent of men reported any sexual harassment complaints; 62 percent of these cases weren’t reported. In all cases the women were harassed by men; 59 percent of men’s harassers were women while 41 percent of the men said their harasser was a man.

Like most women, Cardillo kept quiet about it and never said a word to her superiors or her new husband. “I thought it was disgusting but I didn’t think there was anything anyone would do about it. He would deny it,” Cardillo recalled. “I was shocked but too embarrassed to tell my husband about it, so I let it go.”

Emily Pennachio, a sophomore at Iona University in New York, says, “As a female college student I’m always on guard when someone I don’t know starts to make remarks or makes me feel uncomfortable. I usually ignore the person and return to doing what I was doing in the first place,” says Pennachio. Velasquez says this is the wrong approach and,“Ignoring the conduct or treatment does not mean it goes away but often festers or escalates and it might embolden harasser.”

This situation is typically not dealt with properly for reasons of fear. Also, Velasquez says lawsuits, role of the media are factors as well. More training and education is making headway in making organizations more serious about these emerging issues. Velasquez says what you should do, if you can, is to tell the harasser to stop. “If you can’t, and most can’t because of the situation or person has power of you, document and go to your next higher manager and human resources immediately,” he says. Velasquez advices sexual harassment is something most businesses will take seriously and address properly. Otherwise, “sexual harassment affects morale, performance, relationship and ultimately the bottom line and lawsuits, bad press and an unforgiving public,” says Velasquez.

“It is better to be educated and informed than in denial,” he adds. “These issues don't take a nap during a challenging economic period. Lawsuits roll on. Be aware, anticipate, get out in front of the issues and when situations arise, investigate and act swiftly.”

Where Does The Stress Come from and How to Control It.

Once so often you hear that these are the most stressful years of your life, but why? We know what we have to do and how to get it done but it still seems that all college are having a tough time keeping their stress levels at a minimum.

MaryAnn Colucci, a psychology professor at Adelphi says, “The college years are stressful because the students are trying to learn so much in a short amount of time.” Also Colucci says that college kids may not be certain about what they would like to pursue as a major and this can create pressure from their parents to make the student decide so as not to waste money in changing majors and prolonging the college tuition bills. There is also a social pressure that exists on campuses, especially for those that dorm on campus.

There are many triggers that erupt these stressful emotions during these years. Colucci believes that the transition from high school to college is particularly hard. “They may have been in the top 10% of their class in high school, but now their surrounded by other high achieving students, it can be overwhelming,” says Colucci. Being on your own for the first time as well is a shock to most students. They are now responsible for their academics, activities of daily living such as eating correctly, sleeping adequately and keeping up with their laundry.

In hopes of keeping student’s stress levels at a minimum Colucci advises that being organized, keeping up with assignments, knowing people in your classes, and having a study technique that works is helpful. Keeping focused on your schoolwork is a good way to “stop the stress from creeping up on you.”

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Sleep is another factor of stress that wears down college students quickly simply because they do not get enough of it. According to the American College Health Association, 46% of polled college students said they had slept enough on 3-5 days, 29% felt well rested on 1-2 days and 12% said they didn’t get an adequate amount of sleep once in the past week. Only 13% of college students were able to respond that they had gotten enough sleep to feel well rested in the morning. This poll surveyed nearly 17,000 college students in 2005.

“I always think that people feel better when things are in order, so at the end of the day, if the student can look at their “To Do list” and check off 90% of what they set out to do, they feel like they’ve accomplished something significant and that allows them to sleep easier and get the rest they need,” says Colucci.

However it’s important to remember not to become too relaxed, “there is a certain amount of stress that is necessary to motive students to perform,” says Colucci. Students must be able to balance school, work and responsibilities and it is important to make sure everything is in order. Even though it is essential to get out once and awhile it is not a good idea to go out on the night before a test. “It’s more about not knowing how to balance relaxing, studying and learning,” says Colucci.