Based on judicial decision, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has defined sexual harassment as unwelcome verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature where 1) an individual's rejection of such conduct or submission to it--is used as a basis for employment decisions that affect the employee, 2) the unwelcome conduct is a term or condition of the individual's employment (quid pro quo), either implicitly or explicitly, or 3) the unwelcome conduct interferes with the employee's work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment. (Equal Employment Opportunity Commmission Guidelines)

In cases of sexual harassment, the victim as well as the harasser may be male or female. The victim does not have to be of the opposite sex. The harasser can be the victim's supervisor, an agent of the employer, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or a non-employee. The victim does not have to be the person harassed, but could be anyone affected by the offensive conduct. Unlawful sexual harassment may occur without economic injury to or firing of the victim. (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, "Facts About Sexual Harassment," 1997)

In a 1994 national survey of more than 8,000 Federal workers, 44% of women and 19% of men reported that they had experienced sexual harassment in the past two years. About 6% of respondents who had experienced sexual harassment took formal action, 44% of the men and 22% of the women said that management's response was to do nothing. (U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, "Sexual Harassment in the Federal Worksplace," 1994, pp., vii, 29, 38)

The proportion of men who categorized uninvited sexual remarks by co-workers as sexual harassment rose from 42% in 1980 to 64% in 1994. For women, the figures were 54% and 77% respectively. The percentage of men who believed that pressuring a co-worker for sexual favors is sexual harassment rose from 65% in 1980 to 93% in 1994. For women the figures were 81% and 98% respectively. Researchers believed this increase is due to sexual harassment education. (U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, "Sexual Harassment in the Federal Workplace," 1994, pp. 5,7)

In a 1995 survey administered to the entire Department of Defense, 78% of active duty military women and 38% of active duty military men reported that they had experienced one or more behaviors considered harassment by the survey administrators in the previous 12 months. However, 52% of the women and 9% of the men both indicated such an experience and considered at least one such experience harassment. (Department of Defense, Sexual Harassment Survey, 1995)

Sexual Harassment in School

In a 2001 national survey of 2,064 public high school students, 83% of girls and 79% of boys in grades 8 through 11 reported having experienced sexual harassment. More than one in four students reported experiencing it often. (American Association of University Women Educational Foundation, "Hostile Hallways: Bullying, Teasing, and Sexual Harassment in School," 2001)

Girls were more likely than boys to feel "self-conscious" (44% versus 19%), "embarrassed" (53% versus 32%), and less confident (32% versus 16%) because of an incident of sexual harassment. Girls were also more likely than boys to change behaviors in school or at home as a result of sexual harassment. Examples of modified behavior include less talking in class (30% of girls and 18% of boys), and avoiding the harasser (56% of girls and 24% of boys). (American Association of University Women Educational Foundation, "Hostile Hallways: Bullying, Teasing, and Sexual Harassment in School," 2001)

35% of students who had been sexually harassed reported that their first experience of sexual harassment was in elementary school. (American Association of Univeristy Women Educational Foundation, "Hostile Hallways: Bullying, Teasing, and Sexual Harassment in School," 2001).