5 Things You Can Do to Stop Sexual Harassment

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Being a target of sexual harassment is a daunting experience that can happen to anyone near you no matter where you are, work, or live. The latest example of this unfortunately happened to a male employee at the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) committed by coworkers.

In an open letter that has spread widely in social media platforms, the victim (MS) claims he would often be bullied and harassed by his coworkers since 2011 and peaked in 2015 when he became a victim of sexual harassment that left him deeply traumatized.

Anyone who finds themselves as a bystander of this can prevent it from happening. Social movement Hollaback! Jakarta shared important tips on how to prevent harassment through their 5 D’s bystander intervention training.

1. Directly respond

You may want to directly respond to harassment by naming what is happening or confronting the harasser. This tactic can be risky: the harasser may redirect their abuse towards you and may escalate the situation. Before you decide to respond directly, assess the situation: Are you physically safe? Is the person being harassed physically safe? Does it seem unlikely that the situation will escalate? Can you tell if the person being harassed wants someone to speak up? If you can answer yes to all of these questions, you might choose a direct response.

The most important thing here is to keep it short and succinct. Try not engage in dialogue, debate, or an argument, since this is how situations can escalate. If the harasser responds, try your best to assist the person who was targeted instead of engaging with the harasser.

2. Distraction

Distraction is a subtle and creative way to intervene. The aim here is simply to derail the incident by interrupting it. The idea is to ignore the harasser and engage directly with the person who is being targeted. Don’t talk about or refer to the incident. Instead, talk about something completely unrelated.

3. Delegation

Delegation is when you ask for assistance, for a resource, or for help from a third party such as a supervisor, get your friend on board that can help act as a distraction. Speak to someone near you who notices what’s happening and might be in a better position to intervene. Work together.

4.Checking in on the victim

Even if you can’t act in the moment, you can make a difference for the person who has been harassed by checking in on them after the incident. Many types of harassment happen in passing or very quickly, in which case you can wait until the situation is over and speak to the person who was targeted then.

5. Record the incident

It can be really helpful to record an incident as it happens to someone, but there are a number of things to keep in mind to safely and responsibly document harassment. First, assess the situation. Is anyone helping the person being harassed? If not, use one of the other four D’s. If someone else is already helping out, assess your own safety. If you are safe, go ahead and start recording.

TIKA AYU | HOLLABACK!

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