What is Harassment and Bullying?
Personal Harassment is defined as any behaviour which is unacceptable to the recipient and which creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment for employment, study or social life. Although harassment is often thought of as an overt use of power, it can also appear in more subtle guises. |
| Bullying can be defined as offensive behaviour which violates a person's dignity, or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading or offensive environment, or which humiliates or undermines an individual or group. Such behaviours can be vindictive, cruel or malicious. Bullying can take various forms, from name calling, sarcasm, teasing, and unwarranted criticism to threats of violence or actual physical assault. |
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Is there more than one form of Harassment?
There are many forms of harassment and whilst it is difficult to catagorise them all, below is a list of some recognisable examples of harassment. |
Sexual Harassment
A form of sex discrimination, it involves unwanted sexual attention which emphasises sexual status over a person's individual status. Some examples of activities that might constitute sexual harassment include:
- Remarks, looks, jokes, use of offensive language, alluding to a person's private life or sexual orientation by innuendo, or remarks about a person's appearance.
- Making provocative suggestions or pressing people to accept unwelcome invitations.
- Deliberate physical contact, to which the individual has not consented or had the opportunity to object to.
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Racial Harassment
A form of racial discrimination, involving offensive behaviour by a person or group of one racial or ethnic origin against a person or group of another. Examples of racial harassment include -
- Derogatory name-calling.
- Insults and racist jokes.
- Ridicule of an individual for cultural differences.
- Exclusion from everyday conversation or social events.
- Unfair allocation of work and responsibilities because of racial or ethnic origin.
- Display of offensive, racist material.
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Stalking
A form of harassment that involves pestering an individual, either in person, in writing, in electronic format or on the telephone. Stalking can involve a harassee being followed or spied upon,being caused distress. It may also involve violence or the threat and/or fear of violence. |
Victimisation
Unacceptable behaviour where somebody is treated less favourably than other people because that individual has, in good faith, made allegations of harassment or bullying, intends to make such an allegation or has assisted or supported a person or the processes available in bringing/addressing an allegation. |
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