Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.
Trending News
Can sexual harrassment ever be consentual?
Lets say this guy at work was flirting with you and you liked him. He look it too far, you kept telling him "no, this isnt right." and "I have a boyfriend", but you still made no attempt to physically push him away or slap him. he grabbed your butt, asked you do go down on him. he didnt offer you promotion or raise, but you felt like you were manipulated so slowly that you actually agreed. Later, you tried to break it off with him a few times and he seemed to be understanding but then always tried to start it up again. You heard stories from multiple employees about him doing that to them too. Is this person a sexual harrasser? did he harrass me? or did i consent to it?
5 Answers
- YetiLv 76 years ago
It's only sexual harassment if the behavior is unwanted.
You'd have problems pursuing this as "sexual harassment" since so much was consensual, and it also doesn't sound like the person misused a position of authority over you.
In the future, if you have a boyfriend, you should be much more careful about flirty behavior in the workplace, even if you "like" someone. And you probably should be more professional from the start and not even get close to a grey area.
Anyway, for your main question, if something is consensual, it's not sexual harassment. With your stuff, it's just not clear at what points things definitely were not consensual.
- 6 years ago
By law, sexual harassment is UNWANTED behavior. Some states take this further by also including the instance where at any point the interaction went from being consensual to "no." The first step is to report this to HR. You can do so anonymously. They will investigate and have mitigation with the acuser, and acused (you won't be face to face with him when this happens, and they won't reveal that the complaint was made by you). They will just try to get him to modify his behavior and may have to go through sexual harassment training, or whatever the company's policy for dealing with that is. If his behavior continues after that, you can advise HR that you are filing a civil complaint against him. Hopefully the company does their part, or you can file a civil case against them if you believe that the situation was mishandled.
Don't ever be in fear of not being believed or feel that you are doing something wrong. Your company should have a no retaliation policy, if they don't you shouldn't be working there. The policy protects you from retaliation by your coworkers, the acused, the company, or anyone whom shares a business relationship with the company for reporting violations of any kid whether it be of the company policy or local laws. Look up the statues for your state and learn about your civil rights.
- Anonymous6 years ago
Yes
- Anonymous6 years ago
You led him on. Which is no better than the "harrasser."
- How do you think about the answers? You can sign in to vote the answer.
