Sexual harassment can have serious psychological implications
(Mirror Daily, United States) – Many people experience sexual harassment while they are at work if they happen to collaborate with different customers. However, they are not the only ones who can exhibit such an offensive behavior towards an employee. Even bosses or other work colleagues can behave like this towards a person, and this type of harassment is often more psychologically harmful.
Sexual harassment is common at the workplace
A team of Danish researchers assessed the treatment over 7,600 employees had received at the workplace, and discovered around one percent of them suffered sexual harassment from a superior, a colleague with the same status, or even a subordinate. Also, 2.4 percent had to struggle with the same offenses coming from someone outside their workplace.
As expected, women are more often victims of sexual harassment. From all 4,116 women who were part of the research, 169 of them declared they had to deal with such behavior coming from a customer. On the other hand, only 11 of 3,487 men had this problem. Also, 48 women and 31 men were harassed by a work colleague.
Such a behavior is associated with higher depression risks
From these women who are put in unpleasant situations, about a third listen to uncomfortable jokes, while a fourth receive comments regarding their clothes or their bodies. About one in four women admitted to having been touched in an inappropriate manner, and one in eight saw her male colleagues trying to kiss her.
Researchers assessed the effect these behaviors have on people, and found they could really lead to depression. Sexual harassment increases the likelihood of a person to develop depression, and increases the depressive instances they might suffer. Also, harassment coming from work colleagues was more damaging than the one coming from customers.
Therefore, such a behavior should not be promoted either among work colleagues or among customers. If someone experiences such a treatment, they should immediately issue a complaint and stop such incidents from happening. The research of the Danish researchers has been published in the journal BMC Public Health.
Image Source: Army.mil
Melissa Gansler
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