How Can I Respond in the Moment to Sexual Coercion?
Learning how to handle sexual coercion and actually being able to respond properly in a coercion situation are very different. It is not enough to learn what you should do or say when you are faced with sexual coercion. You should have a clearly defined image of yourself and how you want to live your life that will give you the confidence to respond properly in a sexual coercion moment.
Reinforce Your Self-Confidence
The key to being able to respond properly to a moment of any type of sexual harassment is to have a strong foundation of self-confidence. When you have confidence in who you are and what you want, then you have the ability to react properly in any heat-of-the-moment situation. Sexual coercion is not a physical infringement, so you should not need to have any special physical skills to diffuse the situation.
Identify Coercion
Sexual coercion is the act of trying to persuade or trick someone into engaging into sexual activity. It is normally not an emotionally charged situation, but it can become uncomfortable for the victim. Coercion can come from any type of source and be inflicted on any type of victim. A coercion situation could as easily be male to male as it could male to female. If someone is trying to convince you into having sex, then they are attempting to coerce you.
Your First Step
If you feel as though someone is trying to coerce you into sex, your first reaction should be to establish boundaries. Not every discussion is a situation of sexual coercion. Sometimes there is a sexual energy between two people that inspires conversation that leads to sexual activity. But if you sense that someone is starting a sexually based conversation with you and that is not what you want, then speak up immediately and establish your boundaries.
For The Persistent
If your boundaries are not honored, then you should leave the situation, tape record the offensive conversations and save text and other messages. If you are in the workplace where you know you will see the aggressor again, then try one more time to establish boundaries. If those boundaries go ignored yet again, then report the situation to your supervisor and file a sexual harassment report, if that is part of your company’s policy.
It is important to remember that you have a backup plan if all else fails when you get involved in a sexual coercion situation. If the situation is persistent and you have tried to diffuse it, then contact our sexual harassment attorneys to find out what kind of options you have to stop this form of sexual harassment.