Sexual Harassment in the 21st Century – Really?

By Sabrina Völz

Pho­to Cred­it: Mihai Surdu

If it wasn’t enough that Amer­i­can TV icon and edu­ca­tor Bill Cos­by was accused of sex­u­al assault, rape, and bat­tery – to name a few of the alle­ga­tions – now dozens of women (cur­rent­ly more than 65) have come for­ward about Har­vey Weinstein’s inap­pro­pri­ate sex­u­al behav­ior. Many of these women were pre­vi­ous­ly too afraid to pub­li­cal­ly share their sto­ries of sex­u­al harass­ment and assault. Or couldn’t because of non-dis­clo­sure agree­ments. Some­thing has to give.

Blam­ing the vic­tims is not the answer. More women and men (yes, men expe­ri­ence it, too) who have been sub­ject­ed to unwant­ed sex­u­al remarks, advances, and vio­la­tions need to be empow­ered to break the silence. And those in posi­tions of author­i­ty need to take the issue more seri­ous­ly. A lot more seriously.

The New York Times has recent­ly explored the ques­tion: “Why Hasn’t Sex­u­al Harass­ment Dis­ap­peared?” And it is worth eleven min­utes of your time.

watch the video here

So, why is sex­u­al harass­ment a mat­ter for Eng­lish class, you ask? Well, why isn’t it? Whether the video is used for lis­ten­ing com­pre­hen­sion, a writ­ing activ­i­ty, or linked to lessons on the women’s move­ment or gen­der, this well-made video gives view­ers much to con­sid­er. Let’s not drop the ball. C’mon – this is the 21st cen­tu­ry, people.

 

 

 

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