Sexual Harassment

Over dinner tonight, my husband told me that a person  he knows is facing a 2 weeks suspension period for sexual harassment allegation. He couldn't believe it as he claims that that person has no potential of doing such thing. That person, according to him is soft spoken, quite old, quite pious and basically does not look like those potentially capable of doing anything close to sexual harassment. No, no no. It cannot be true, according to my dear husband. 

I, being the person who only listened to this could only shake my head. What can I say, right? I am not too well versed about what sexual harassment really entails, so I didn't dare say much. My husband, being very opinionated will start a debate about this if I am not careful, just like always. 

So I googled sexual harassment, and I found some shocking  information on what constitutes sexual harassment. Very wide. Very specific. You will be surprised if you see the list. If I were a guy or even a lady, I shall be very very careful of what I say or do to the other opposite sex, because it could be a form of sexual harassment. Even hanging around a person or staring at another person can constitute sexual harassment. And check this out, calling a person 'babe' or 'doll'or 'hun' or 'sayang' also translate to sexual harassment. Darn it, I sometimes call my male friends 'babe'. Apparently, in Japan (according to a friend, Manabu), asking a female colleague to make coffee for you could also translate to sexual harassment. My god. I don't know this. 

But it is actually important for not only ladies, but also the guys to know about this. I know, in Malaysia sexual harassment is not widely publicised or widely spoken about as in the western countries, where according to my husband are widely reported. Maybe being Asians, anything related to sex, sexual or stuff like that are considered taboo and should not be made known to public.  But I personally feel that if someone feels that they are a victim of sexual harassment, they should come forward, to the correct channel of course so the situation can be assessed accordingly and noone is unfairly victimised. 

From now on, I need to be extra careful of my actions and of my words. You'll never know..... it could be considered 'unwelcome'. 

Signing off - nmn