Sexual Harassment Laws and Their Impact on the Work Environment

This chapter examines the impact of sexual harassment laws in a work environment. Different contexts are examined with different sexual harassment laws. The most vulnerable individuals are identified. The particular case of Lebanon is inspected where few laws regulate this matter. A comparison is established with the USA. Lebanon and the United States have a different view of sexual harassment. In Lebanon, no clear laws protect women. In addition, Lebanon is more tolerant than the United States. The difference in cultures also contributes in people's willingness to disclose harassment. In the United States, people are used to the concept of right and a judicial system that preserves it. In Lebanon, such a matter is taboo, and people are discouraged from disclosing to preserve their reputation.

Sexual Assault and Students With Disabilities

This chapter reviews the special vulnerabilities of students with disabilities to sexual assault. The relationship between the characteristics of specific disability categories and the delivery system that is special education is explored. Historical and philosophical trends such as institutionalization, forced sterilization, and the Eugenics Movement that created the environment for sexual abuse of students with disabilities are discussed. The authors provide a case study about a recent sexual assault and a discussion of the Willowbrook institution where well documented sexual abuse of people with disabilities took place. Age and disability specific sex education, teacher training, and ongoing monitoring are recommended to improve the safety of some of our most vulnerable students.

Psychological Maltreatment and Internet Addiction

Internet use enhances one's quality of life; yet, excessive use may lead to various problems for their healthy development and wellbeing. Understanding the risk and protective factors in internet addiction has importance to promote individuals' positive development and wellbeing. Therefore, the purpose of the present chapter is to explore the role of psychological maltreatment in the development of the internet addiction. Psychological maltreatment is a significant public health problems associated with a range of short and long–term undesirable mental health and wellbeing outcomes in childhood to adulthood. Considering the outcomes supporting the significant role of child maltreatment on the development of internet addiction, it is clear that maltreated individuals are at–risk to develop internet addiction, and psychological maltreatment, as a risk factor, has a crucial role in the development of internet addiction. However, evidences here are relatively limited, and there is need further research investigated long–term impacts of psychological maltreatment on internet addiction.

Child Sexual Abuse

This chapter outlines briefly the dynamics of the interplay between Child Sexual Abuse and Family. Child abuse is a state of emotional, physical, economic and sexual maltreatment meted out to a person below the age of eighteen and is a globally prevalent phenomenon. Child abuse is a violation of the basic human rights of a child and is an outcome of a set of inter-related familial factors among other ones. The primary focus is on the issues of intrafamilial and extrafamilial child sexual abuse, familial risk factors for abuse and broadly some theories that contribute to the understanding of intrafamilial child sexual abuse. The chapter also explores reactions of the family to the sexually abused child, evaluation of the interventions suitable for the same and the status of psychotherapy with respect to the sexually abused child and their family.

Sexual Violence

It takes seconds of impulsiveness for an act of sexual abuse to cross the thin line to convert into an act of sexual violence and vice-versa. There are cases where the act of sexual violence is initiated with consent, and there are acts of sexual violence that fall under the umbrella term sexual assault. This chapter examines the role of violence in sexual abuse, i.e. sexual violence. The first section reviews the definitions of sexual violence and throwing some light on forms of violence in sexual abuse and violation of consent during an act of sexual violence. The second section reviews the risk factors and causal for sexual violence. The third section presents an overview of different perspectives on violence in context to sexual abuse are mentioned and examined.

Trauma

Experiencing trauma will impact a child's development, specifically physically, psychologically (mentally), and emotionally. There is much research on how trauma affects child development, and more information is being addressed on interventions to ameliorate the impact of the symptoms of trauma children experience. Schools play an important role in working with traumatized children and their families. It is through effective collaboration, communication, cognitive behavior interventions, mindfulness techniques to teach self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, responsible decision making, and relationship skills where schools and families may best support the child's growth and development.

Detecting Sexual Harassment in Workplace Electronic Communications Networks

Sexual harassment has been a problem within organisations for some time. Its manifestation in electronic communication networks can be seen to amount to cyber-bullying or cyber-stalking. Through looking at records relating to an instance of sexual harassment at a higher education institution, including from that member of staff's workplace, and those created by referrals to the police, the court service, and their workplace, this chapter shows how a piece of assistive technology called the ‘Protective Technology for Ensuring Guardianship of Environmental Resources' (PROTEGER) can automatically detect sexual harassment narratives. In this context, ‘environmental resources' should refer to both humans and documents. Human resource managers would be better equipped to deal with disputes between staff if PROTEGER was running on their local area network as it might not be a matter of one member of staff's word against another's.

UK-Based Police Officers' Perceptions of, and Role in Investigating, Cyber-Harassment as a Crime

Within the UK, cyber-harassment is a criminal act and perpetrators can be prosecuted if the crime is reported to the police. Cyber-harassment has a detrimental impact and causes psychological distress to victims but due to its online nature, complaints made may not be taken seriously and the impact may not be fully acknowledged. Police officers' perceptions of this crime and its victims are crucial as this will impact on how the crime is investigated and whether perpetrators are prosecuted. The present exploratory study aimed to gain insight into how cyber-harassment is investigated and identify issues and barriers. Eight police officers based in the United Kingdom were recruited using a snowball technique to participate in semi-structured interviews. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis and three themes were identified: online accessibility, threat, and the unhelpful victim. Each theme is discussed in relation to theory, policy and legislation within the UK.

Women's Commuting Environment in Public Buses in Dhaka City

The constitution of Bangladesh aims to ensure a discrimination free world guaranteeing women equal access to political and public life. The ratification of CEDAW, adaptation of both MDG and SDG by the government also promote this goal. Dhaka requires an efficient transportation system to ensure the freedom of mobility for all. However, the public buses of Dhaka are insecure, unreliable, congested and unsafe. As a result, the women and children suffer the most while boarding a bus. They have to face both physical and emotional pain. This consequently restricts women's mobility rights. As men are responsible for creating a gender insensitive commuting environment inside public buses, their perceptions on the fact is to be explored. This chapter with the help of the researcher' research data (for Masters' thesis) from 2015-2016, highlights on men's perceptions of commuting environment women experience in public buses in Dhaka city. How these perceptions are shaped as an outcome of hegemonic masculinity is also analysed in this chapter using Connell's theory of hegemonic masculinity.

Violence Against Women Programmes in a North-Eastern French City

In 2013, the author was commissioned by the mayor of City A, North East France, by the prosecutor and the main local social work and reentry charity, Association A, with the mission to evaluate the host of local programmes addressing violence against women (VAW). This qualitative study is still ongoing for one more year, but has already yielded very significant findings, for if at first glance, the desire to do tackle VAW is shared by most practitioners (with the notable exception of family courts), in the field, the reality is quite disheartening. Our first finding is that most practitioners are oblivious to the dangers incurred by battered women and virtually no efficient measure is taken in this respect. Another finding is that practitioners are not organized in collaborative networks and operate sequentially or parallel to each other with virtually no collaboration or information sharing. We also worryingly found a systematic denial of the gendered nature of VAW, with many practitioners clearly believing they are essentially situational with shared responsibility.