SURIGAO STATE COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOY

Surigao City

MR. CHRISTIAN JOY E. JACOBE

BSED - ENGLISH 1A
Course Description: Educ 2 The Teaching Profession
Teacher:DR. LEONIELYN G. MALICAY

My reaction about the article

When enough is enough - Sexual Harassment in the classroom

Upon reading the article about the sexual harassment in the classroom of Royal Melbourne Institute of
Technology by Claire Hennekam, I remembered the story of my female classmate when we were in Grade
10. The article is really the same scenario of what happened to my classmate. Our teacher was staring
blankly at this girl’s breast.

Now, this is just one example of how sexual harassment can affect the lives of students.
Actually, I myself told a male friend about the incident, expecting a little understanding, all he
could say was "don't flatter yourself. As if anyone would want to rape you!" This only made it
more obvious to me that men see rape only as a sexual thing, when it is so much more than that.
Rape, and jokes about rape, along with all other forms of sexual harassment, are used to gain
power over people, and have nothing to do with how attracted someone may be to someone
else.

In the article, the woman, of course, didn’t know what happened. But brought everyone’s
attention. I also noticed that most people believe, especially my classmates when I was in high
school, that you must have made physical contact with someone in order for it to be considered
sexual harassment. Well, this is most certainly not the case. Sexual harassment can be touching,
staring or standing so close to someone as to make them uncomfortable, just like what Reporter
Anz Jamaicah Omos discussed during her report. It can also be where a supervisor or teacher
offers rewards for sexual involvement, such as promotion or a favourable assessment; or
threatens penalties for refusal to comply. Sexual harassment can also be sexual remarks:
innuendo, using sexual imagery to illustrate a point, sexual jokes, and personal comments about
someone's appearance or sexuality. With the Internet being used more and more widely, it can
also be sexual harassment to send someone an email about or containing sexual references or
innuendoes.

I think that in order to significantly decrease and hopefully stop future sexual harassment
cases, more sever punishments must be mandated and most importantly enforced. We have to
take actions about this issue! OMG! Even in school and universities, sexual harassment is
always there! Not only the victims are female, but both male and female. This is really an
overwhelming situation that really could ruin the victim of the said harassment. Now, because I
already speak out my reaction of the article, people of the Philippines and the world, be
responsible and respectful!