The modern business environment is global in scale, diverse in makeup of labor, and a litigious-vulnerable one. Politically correct language, behavior, dress, and other forms of trying to remain “inoffensive” to others, demands continual vigilance with respect to our own behaviors, especially on the job. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is often responsible for bringing sexual harassment suits against major corporations, most recently a successful one against Ford Motor Corporation. Sexual harassment in the workplace is unlawful under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. According to the EEOC, sexual harassment encompasses but is not limited to the following:
The victim as well as the harasser may be a woman or a man. The victim does not have to be of the opposite sex.
The harasser can be the victim's supervisor, an agent of the employer, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or a non-employee.
The victim does not have to be the person harassed but could be anyone affected by the offensive conduct.
Unlawful sexual harassment may occur without economic injury to or discharge of the victim.
The harasser's conduct must be unwelcome.
The definition and description of sexual harassment provided above is often mirrored in the definition and description of it by others. Often the definition is expanded. For example, Peter Stravropoulos includes the following in his definition and description of sexual harassment, “Repeatedly engaging in sexually oriented conversations, comments or horse play, including language, telling jokes, or anecdotes of a sexual nature” (46). One can see that the often-vague wording of such definitions makes one even more vulnerable in the workplace because many of these parameters defining sexual harassment appear fairly subjective. For example, we have all had the experience of telling an off-col
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