Sexual harassment
Sexual harassment is any unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature that might intimidate, insult or humiliate. It could be physical, spoken or written, and includes:
- comments about a person’s private life or appearance
- sexually suggestive behaviour such as staring
- brushing up against someone, touching, fondling or hugging
- sexually suggestive jokes or comments
- unwanted requests to go out or engage in sex
- sexually explicit emails, text messages or social media posts.
Sexual harassment is different from an interaction that’s consensual, welcome or reciprocated.
A single incident can amount to sexual harassment – the behaviour doesn’t have to occur more than once.
What to do
If you experience, see or hear about any sexual harassment, we encourage you to make a report online to the Safer Community Unit.
Getting support
The victim is never at fault and is in no way responsible for the actions of the perpetrator.
We take allegations of sexual harassment seriously, and will provide a swift and coordinated response to limit any further risk to the victim.
You can discuss your options with the Safer Community Unit – they offer expert help, advice and support while you consider what you’d like to do. The final decision is an important personal choice, and yours alone to make.
For more information, see getting help and support.