Criminalising Sexual Harassment
| DOI | 10.1177/0022018317735420 |
| Published date | 01 October 2017 |
| Author | Golan Luzon |
| Date | 01 October 2017 |
| Subject Matter | Comments |
Comment
Criminalising Sexual
Harassment
Golan Luzon
Research Unit Criminal Law and Criminology, University of Leuven, Belgium
Abstract
The article explores the differences between sexual behavior in the workplace and in the public
domain. Arguments against criminalising sexual harassment because of incompatibility with the
principlesof criminal law are shownto be inaccurate. In the labormarket, the principlesof criminal
law are consistent with a definition of sexual harassment as an offense of strict liability, and
application of thedoctrine of strict liability can protect the value of equalitythrough criminal law.
Keywords
Sexual harassment, workplace, strict liability, equality
Introduction, Definitions and Distinctions
The term ‘sexual harassment’ is widely used in public discourse to describe a man’s deviant behavior
toward women. This article seeks to answer the question: whether sexual harassment in the workplace
should be criminalised.
To answer this question, we must first clarify the meaning of the term ‘sexual harassment.’ Some
define sexual harassment as conduct by which one person (the harasser) disturbs another (the harassed)
from a sexual point of view. Sexual harassment in a social context includes a variety of acts
1
: indecent
assault; repeated propositions of a sexual nature to a person who has demonstrated not being interested in
them; repeated remarks addressed to a person focusing on that person’s sexuality, when that person has
demonstrated to the harasser not being interested in them; insulting or debasing remarks addressed to a
person in relation to that person’s gender or sexuality; publishing a photograph or a video of a person
focusing on that person’s sexuality; and extorting a person to perform an act of a sexual nature.
Corresponding author:
Golan Luzon, Research Unit Criminal Law and Criminology, KU Leuven, Herbert Hooverplein 9, 3418, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
E-mail: luzongolan@gmail.com
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Feminist Criminology 235–258; C. Diffee, ‘Going Offshore: Horseplay, Normalization, and Sexual Harassment’ (2012) 24
Columbia Journal of Gender and Law 302; A. Blackstone, C. Uggen and H. McLaughlin, ‘Legal Consciousness and Responses
to Sexual Harassment’(2009) 43(3) Law and Society Review 631–668; L. Levanon, ‘Sexual History Evidence in Cases of
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The Journal of Criminal Law
2017, Vol. 81(5) 359–366
ªThe Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/0022018317735420
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