Sexual harassment

Sexual harassment (성희롱/性戱弄) is bullying or coercion, verbal or physical, of a sexual nature. In the workplace, it is the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors.

In legal contexts, however, sexual harassment is illegal. It is unlawful to harass a person, i.e., a male or female student or employee, because of that person’s sex.

The harasser can be the victim's supervisor, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or someone who is not an employee of the employer, such as a client or customer. It includes a range of behavior from mild transgressions to sexual abuse or sexual assault.

Sexual harassment is a form of illegal employment discrimination in many countries, and is a form of abuse (sexual and psychological) and bullying. For many businesses and other organizations, preventing sexual harassment, and defending employees from sexual harassment charges, have become key goals of legal decision-making.

Key words
sexual harassment, sexual violence, sentiment, workplace, employment, right to equality

Harassment situations
Sexual harassment may occur in a variety of circumstances. Often, but not always, the harasser is in a position of power or authority over the victim (due to differences in age, or social, political, educational or employment relationships) or expecting to receive such power or authority in form of promotion.

Forms of harassment relationships include:
 * The harasser can be anyone, such as a client, a co-worker, a parent or legal guardian, relative, a teacher or professor, a student, a friend, or a stranger.
 * The victim does not have to be the person directly harassed but can be a witness of such behavior who finds the behavior offensive and is affected by it.
 * The place of harassment occurrence may vary from school, university, workplace and other.
 * There may be other witnesses or attendances, or not.
 * The harasser may be completely unaware that his or her behavior is offensive or constitutes sexual harassment or may be completely unaware that his or her actions could be unlawful.[2]
 * The harassment can take place in situations in which the harassed person may not be aware of what is happening, such as during rituals with kids, or when entering limbo.
 * The harassment may be one time occurrence but more often it has a type of repetitiveness
 * Adverse effects on the target are common in the form of stress and social withdrawal, sleep and eating difficulties, overall health impairment, etc.
 * The victim and harasser can be any gender.
 * The harasser does not have to be of the opposite sex.
 * Misunderstanding: It can result from a situation where one thinks he/she is making themselves clear, but is not understood the way they intended. The misunderstanding can either be reasonable or unreasonable. An example of unreasonable is when a man holds a certain stereotypical view of a woman such that he did not understand the woman’s explicit message to stop.

Statutory ground
The National Human Rights Commission Act (국가인권위원회법) defines sexual harassment as "differentiating action in breach of the right to equality" in such situations as doing job, employment and other relationship. . . to make a person feel sexually humiliated or disgusted by sexual words and actions in view of higher position, or in relation to doing job, etc.; or to give him/her any employment disadvantage on account of not responding to sexual words and actions, or other demand.

Compared with sexual violence which is accompanied by physical violence, sexual harassment is related with sexual humiliation, disgust or other subjective sentiment.

Understanding gap in sexual behavior
In terms of sexual harassment, some says "It's sexual harassment" while others excuse themselves "It's a joke."

이처럼 인식 차이가 큰 상황에서 저명인사의 성희롱 가해 행위에 대한 지적은 때때로 ‘다른 의도를 지닌 공격’으로 왜곡되기도 한다. 2000년 유명 환경단체 사무처장이 대학생을 성추행한 사건의 경우, 가해자가 기소돼 유죄판결을 받았음에도 피해자는 “시민운동에 타격을 입히려는 음모에 동원됐다”는 비난에 시달려야 했다. 이 사건으로 인해 2001년 꾸려진 ‘운동사회 성폭력 뿌리 뽑기 100인 위원회’ 활동가들은 당시 노동조합 간부 등 진보 진영에서 널리 알려진 인사들의 성폭력 사건을 고발하며 실명을 공개했다가 각종 명예훼손 소송 대상이 됐다.

그러나 사회지도층이나 명망가의 성평등 의식은 사회 전반에 큰 영향을 미친다는 점에서 이에 대해 문제를 제기하는 것은 반드시 필요한 일이다. 1993년 서울대 교수를 성희롱 혐의로 고소한 이른바 ‘우 조교 사건’은 2년 후 ‘여성발전기본법’에 ‘성희롱’ 관련 규정이 만들어지는 계기가 되었다. It was really sensational that deceased actress Chang Ja-yeon's suicide note on the allegedly coerced sexual bribery and Ms. Shin Jeong-A's autobiography on scandal brought to light the dark side of the Korean high society surrounding sex.