Sexual harassment can be defined as inappropriate and unwelcome behaviour with a sexual subtext.
In a broad sense, behaviour that meets the following three criteria can be considered sexual harassment:
- the behaviour is of a sexual nature or relates to the fact that the person is a woman or a man,
- the behaviour is unsolicited and unwanted,
- the behaviour has a negative impact on the human dignity or well-being of the victim.
It can take various forms, for example:
- inappropriate comments (commenting appearance, sexual orientation or intimate partner relationship, inappropriate sex jokes),
- unwelcome sexual attention,
- preferential treatment or the promise of preferential treatment in exchange for consent to sexual interaction,
- unwelcome visual contact, such as lustful glances or "squinting" into the cleavage,
- unsolicited sexual suggestions, especially repeated,
- sexual blackmail or coercion (e.g., better test or workplace conditions),
- degrading, embarrassing, suggestive, insulting, vulgar or obscene remarks,
- unsolicited touches.
If you become a victim of sexual harassment at university, we are ready to work with you to minimize the negative impact on your studies or work. You should address any form of harassment as soon as possible after this situation has occurred to prevent it from recurring or developing. You can use an informal way to deal with this situation or a formal way to deal with this situation.
If you believe that sexual harassment has taken place or is taking place, we encourage you to clearly and preferably in writing inform the harasser about this and in this way made it clear that the conduct is unacceptable. The description of the events should be non-evaluative and as detailed as possible, including dates, locations, witnesses and a description of the event. Furthermore, it is appropriate to describe what effects the events had on you, try to describe your feelings that the inappropriate behaviour has caused you and suggest further action, formulate your idea of changing the behaviour of the harasser. We further recommend that you keep careful written records of harassment and continue to do so until the situation is resolved.
Contact someone close to you. Sometimes it helps to at least talk about the problem.
If for any reason you do not want to deal with the situation yourself, you can choose one of the formal ways to deal with the situation.
- You can contact the ombudsman and agree with him/her how to proceed. For the first contact with the ombudsman, use the e-mail .
- If you are an employee, you can contact your superior. You can file a formal complaint under the Handling of complaints, suggestions, notifications and petitions, other complaints.
- If you are a student, you can contact the Counselling Centre, which offers psychological counselling for students. More information and the contact e-mail can be found at https://www.vsb.cz/cs/o-univerzite/poradenske-sluzby/poradenske-centrum/psychologicke-poradenstvi/.
- You can contact the Ethics Committee, which assesses complaints related to the observance of moral values summarized in the Code of Ethics, which declares, among other things, that all employees and students oppose all manifestations of abuse of position and other forms of bossing, as well as sexual coercion or harassment. The procedure for filing a complaint is set out in the Rules of procedure of the Ethics Committee, Article 4.
- In serious cases, you can contact the Police of the Czech Republic.