Sexual assault is a sexual act in which a person is coerced or physically forced to engage against their will. It is also defined as non-consensual sexual touching of a person. Sexual assault is a form of sexual violence which includes rape (forced vaginal, anal or oral penetration or drug facilitated sexual assault), groping, child sexual abuse or the torture of the person in a sexual manner.
Sexual harassment is intimidation, bullying or coercion of a sexual nature. It may also be defined as the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. In the United States, sexual harassment is a form of discrimination which violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The legal and social definition of what constitutes sexual harassment differ widely by culture. Sexual harassment includes a wide range of behaviors from seemingly mild transgressions to serious forms of abuse. Some forms of sexual harassment overlap with sexual assault. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC): "Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitutes sexual harassment when submission to or rejection of this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual's employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual's work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment."
• 79% of victims are women, 21% are men
• 51% are harassed by a supervisor
• Business, Trade, Banking, and Finance are the biggest industries where sexual harassment occurs
• 12% received threats of termination if they did not comply with their requests
• 26,000 people in the armed forces were assaulted in 2012
• 302 of the 2,558 cases pursued by victims were prosecuted
• 38% of the cases were committed by someone of a higher rank
• Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a federal law that prohibits employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin, and religion. It generally applies to employers with 15 or more employees, including federal, state, and local governments. Title VII also applies to private and public colleges and universities, employment agencies, and labor organizations.
• "It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer … to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin."
Sexual misconduct can occur where one person uses a position of authority to compel another person to engage in an otherwise unwanted sexual activity. For example, sexual harassment in the workplace might involve an employee being coerced into a sexual situation out of fear of being dismissed. Sexual harassment in education might involve a student submitting to the sexual advances of a person in authority in fear of being punished, for example by being given a failing grade.