Sexual harassment is a very serious issue that happens to many people in our community and even in our school. It happens so often in society that people have now normalized it. Men and women are often afraid to speak up about it, so we need to spread more awareness towards it. Which could possibly give victims more confidence to say anything about being harassed.

 “It was an old man who did it, who was my mother’s boss,” Georgina Gonzalez, 36, said. She was harassed when she was about twelve years old by an almost 40 year old man. This is not normal and should definitely not be normalized. “I told my family, so we never saw him again.” Thankfully, her family didn’t talk to him again and actually did do something about the situation.

 This is why people should not be afraid to speak up because in the end it will all most likely get better. Unfortunately, many people are scared to say anything because they believe the outcome will end badly.

 Another problem with sexual harassment is that many people witness sexual harassment or know about it and don’t report it to anyone.

“To be honest, I would not do anything if I saw someone being harassed. I would just feel bad for them,” Melanie Heredia, an AJCMS student, thirteen, said. Although people may think it is not their issue if another person gets harassed, they should at least try to help the victim by reporting anything they witness or they can try stopping it.  

Another big issue of sexual harassment is in industries, such as the entertainment industry. Many famous people harass either other celebrities or just anyone in general because they know they have power and can easily get away with it. Recently, people have started a hashtag called “#Me Too” where girls or boys can talk about their experiences. This is a good way people can share their stories, connect, and talk about their issue with another person or a group.

Thomas Lo, an Animo Jefferson Middle School teacher, said, “It is something that is a very ugly part of society and we haven’t done enough to address the issues with it.” This is true because a lot of people get sexually harassed and not a lot gets done about it. Therefore, we need to start addressing the issue more and helping people out who are victims of it.

 Not only is sexual harassment physical, it can also be verbal. People get catcalled in public a lot when they don’t even want it. I’ve personally seen and heard old men tell stuff to a young girl, which is definitely not okay. In their minds they believe what they are doing is okay and not wrong, but that is not the case. Most of the time, if not all the time, women do not want these compliments, if anything it just makes them very uncomfortable. The same goes for men being catcalled.

 Sexual harassment is mostly seen as a girl’s problem. Although girls do get harassed more than men, men’s issues should not be ignored. Many people tell the male victims that they should “enjoy it” or bully the boys when they speak up.

Although it may be mostly a female issue, we need to acknowledge the fact that men can get harassed as well and people do less about it because they just brush it off as not important.

 Finally, my own issue:

I was eleven years old.  I knew him, we went to the same school, and I sat next to him . . .

This shows that teenagers themselves experience these events. It can be their peers or even family members. You never really know when it is going to happen or who’s capable of doing it, it just happens. This happens to MANY young girls and even some boys.This is why we need to help people who are going through this. Speaking up about your problem can be really difficult, either it be because you’re embarrassed and ashamed, you think whoever is doing that to you will hurt you if you tell, or whatever your reason may be. If we know anyone being constantly harassed, or even harassed once, we should support them and report the person who did it.