Definitions

Contents

• Definitions

  • Boundaries and Consent

  • Sexual violations

  • Sexual misconduct

  • Sexual harassment

  • Sexual assault

  • Stalking

  • Dating violence

  • Sexual exploitation

  • Support person

Boundaries and Consent

Boundaries: Personal boundaries include the set of actions or reactions that is acceptable to that person. Different people may have different boundaries, either in personal sense or in communication. Therefore, it is crucial that people avoid assuming people’s boundaries, but rather communicate and understand each other’s personal boundaries, through different forms of communication such as but not limited to verbal communication, written communication or body language.

Consent: Permission that needs to be clearly given throught communication before actions are committed. Violations of consent include actions that are performed before consent is given, or actions that are performed even if consent is not given.

We will imagine sexual misconduct and its forms under the different ways that these violations take shape

Sexual violations

Sexual misconduct

Faults made to people which are triggered by, or aimed at sexual characteristics or details.

Its forms include:

• Sexual harassment

• Sexual assault

• Stalking

• Dating violence

• Sexual exploitation

Sexual harassment

Unwelcoming actions that involve sexual elements.

Two main types of sexual harassments,

• The first one involves direct interactions between two or more individuals. It includes unwanted sexual advances or aggressive requests for consents.

• The second one includes unwanted statements that involve sexual elements. This include showcases of sex jokes, sex videos, body parts revealing, and sexual comments.

Sexual assault

Unwanted physical violations to the body that causes pain and agony.

Examples include:

• Rape

• Sodomy

• Fondling

• Sexual assault with an object

Stalking

Stalking is the increased attention paid either physically or virtually with any intentions.

Examples include:

• Following a person near their home, or a place they frequent

• Sending inappropriate emails to a person/ group of people

• Making inappropriate phone calls to a person/ group of people

• Distributing inappropriate materials to a person/ group of people

• Sending malicious contents or doing actions that causes a person/ group of people to feel uncomfortable on social media

Stalking causes loss of privacy, which causes one to fear for their own safety

Dating violence

While being in a relationship, any actions that portrays aggression, either through the internet, through physical means or through speech, without the other person’s consent, is called dating violence

Examples include:

• Unwanted sex jokes spoken verbally, virtually or in written form

• Any forms of sexual harassment in a relationship

Sexual exploitation

Taking sexual advantage of a person or violating the sexual privacy of a person.

An example of sexual exploitation is revealing the gender identity of a person without their consent.

Support person

A person who accompanies any one or some of the people involved in sexual misconduct through any direct or indirect forms of communication. They ensure the physical and mental safety for the person involved in sexual misconduct, and sometimes act as intermediaries between professionals and the person involved in sexual misconduct.

• A support person actively advises and respects the recommended decisions of the person involved in sexual misconduct

• A support person actively reaches out to professionals, conveys emotional support and advices from the professionals to the person involved in sexual misconduct, and encourages the person involved in sexual misconduct to communicate to professionals

• Anyone could become a support person of the person involved in sexual misconduct

• The person involved in sexual misconduct has the right to confide in the support person, or deny the help from the support person