What is Sexual Harassment? How to Teach Your Child about it?
Whether we admit or not, but, we all have gone through sexual harassment at some point of our lives. A person, who is sexually assaulted, often cuts him/herself from the society believing that the entire society is the same and will take the benefits by sexually assaulting again and again. Typically, sexual assault or harassment is any kind of unwelcome sexual behavior that is humiliating, offensive, or intimidating. It can be both physical and verbal, or can be done online, andis considered as an illegal offense. As a matter of fact, the victims of such offense are not even aware that they are going through such a situation. Therefore, it is crucial to know what such activities include:
Grabbing, touching, or trying to make physical contact without the consent of a victim Passing comments having sexual meaning Forcing to make sexual intercourse or asking for sexual favors Leering and staring at the private body parts Making sexual gestures or suggestive body movements to hint you for making sexual favors Passing sexual jokes to you Insulting or displaying rude behavior for not doing sexual favor Asking to keep the body secrets and threatening to the victim.
How to educate a child for sexual harassment? Most parents are not comfortable discussing sexual topics with their child; they commonly believe that it is not the right age or time to have a conversation over such topics. But, they are not aware that this is the most appropriate age and time to educate a child. Nowadays, it is getting very common to hear the news about school-going children being sexually abused and this is mainly because parents avoid talking
with their child early enough about their body safety. Here are things to be taught early to prevent the child from being sexually harassed: Talk about body parts –Don’t hesitate to tell the proper name of the body parts to a child. Like some adolescents call their vagina their bottom. Tell them about their private parts – Tell your child about the body parts that should not be touched by anyone other than their parents and themselves. Teach them body boundaries – Tell them to set body boundaries as no one can touch their body parts and no one can ask them to touch other’s body parts as well. Don’t forget the second part of the sentence. Tell your child to not keep the body secrets – Most culprits ask a victim to keep the sexual harassment a secret. Hence, tell your child to never ever keep the body secret, no matter, how friendly they are asked to do and how much they are threatened.