“Hey that’s sexual harassment and I don’t have to take it!” Many women have made this comment in any uncomfortable situations. In today’s society there has been confusion over what constitutes sexual harassment. It has been agreed upon that unwanted physical contact is classified as sexual harassment. However, all inappropriate language with a sexual overtone is also sexual harassment. Verbal comments such as sexual jokes and indecent comments reported or not, is sexual harassment.
Experts define sexual harassment as any behavior that is unwanted and found offensive (LeMoncheck 45). This includes verbal conduct as well as physical conduct. However, many authorities do not take this definition into account when a harassment case has been reported. Because a person was not physically, violated authorities do not considered it serious. As with the Teresa Harris case, because there was no physical harm her case did not stand in court. Jokes are not considered to be harassing maybe just offensive. When sexual jokes about women are repeatedly told, especially if the person has told the offender once that they find the jokes insulting, it is verbal harassment (Jones 67).
The first amendment allows people the “right of freedom of speech”. Because of this amendment, many do not find sexual jokes and comments to be harassment. It is just a person speaking their mind. For instance, just as a person is not to yell out fire in a movie theater or make racist remarks because it is harmful and offend and harm a person, sexual jokes can also be harmful to a person. Therefore in this instance the first amendment should be taking into consideration.
There are times when the judicial sys…
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…r repeat offenses or for sexist remarks” (13). The Census does accept sexist remarks as harassment, when in actuality it is. Just as many verbal harassment reports are made as physical. The verbal reports are just not counted.
Verbal harassment is offensive and harmful. Authorities should take the situation lightly, but should treat it the same as any other type of harassment. No one should accept it for any type of reason, especially not a job. Therefore, before telling that dirty joke by copy machine, ask the people around do they find sexual jokes offensive.
Works Cited
Buck, Chris. “The Joke That Killed”. Esquire. Jan 1995 vol:123. 84-86.
Hajdin, Mane and Linda LeMoncheck. Sexual Harassment. New York: Rowman
Electoral College: An Essential Component of our Democracy
Electoral College: An Essential Component of our Democracy
The right to vote is fundamental to our democracy. For the last 100 years, the presidential candidate who won the most popular votes won the election, but the last election was different. [i] The candidate who won the presidency in the 2000 presidential election, George W. Bush, actually received fewer popular votes than the losing candidate, Al Gore. This raises some interesting questions: is the process by which Americans currently elect presidents democratic? If all Americans are equal, should not one American equal one vote? Does the Electoral College work, even though it disproportionably represents the votes of some Americans, or should we switch to a direct voting system?
There is some support for keeping the current system. One benefit is that generally, the Electoral College adds legitimacy to the winner of the popular vote by exaggerating the margin of the victory. For example, the Electoral College made it look as if John F. Kennedy was the clear winner of the 1960 presidential election. He received 303 electoral votes, while his opponent, Richard Nixon, received only 219 electoral votes.i The popular vote, on the other hand, was much closer: John F. Kennedy received 49.72% of the popular vote, while Richard Nixon received 49.55% of the popular vote.[ii] However, the winner of the most popular votes is not always the winner of the Electoral College. There have been four cases, one being the last election, where the winner of the most popular votes lost the presidency.
Another conceivable benefit of the Electoral College is that it can lessen the negative effects of third-party candidates who have no chance of winning. In order to win the presidency…
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…h a greater share of the population. To argue that the Electoral College is undemocratic or not American is not far from arguing that the distribution of power in our nation’s legislature is undemocratic and needs reform. The Electoral College is nothing more than a combination of two essential components of our democracy. The Electoral College strikes a delicate balance between the rights of the minority and the majority so that all voices are heard.
[i] Tight election puts Electoral College under microscope
http://www.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/11/13/electoral.college/index.html
[ii] 1960 Election Results
http://h0040055bf148.ne.mediaone.net/~dave/POL/pe1960.html
[iii] 1992 Election Results/1996 Election Results
http://h0040055bf148.ne.mediaone.net/~dave/POL/pe1992.html
http://h0040055bf148.ne.mediaone.net/~dave/POL/pe1996.html