Half of British women and a fifth of men have been sexually harassed at work or a place of study, a BBC survey says.
Of the women who said they had been harassed, 63% said they didn’t report it to anyone, and 79% of the male victims kept it to themselves.
The ComRes poll for BBC Radio 5 live spoke to more than 2,000 people.
The survey was commissioned after sexual assault claims against Harvey Weinstein resulted in widespread sharing of sexual harassment stories.
Women and men who have been sexually harassed have been revealing their experiences on social media using the hashtag “me too” to show the magnitude of the problem worldwide.
That followed allegations, including rape and sexual assault, against Mr Weinstein from more than two dozen women – among them actresses Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Rose McGowan.
The Radio 5 live survey, of 2,031 British adults, found that 37% of all those asked – 53% of women and 20% of men – said they had experienced sexual harassment, ranging from inappropriate comments to actual sexual assaults, at work or a place of study.
More than a quarter of people surveyed had suffered harassment in the form of inappropriate jokes or “banter” and nearly one in seven had suffered inappropriate touching.
Of those who had been harassed, 5 live’s survey suggests one in 10 women had been sexually assaulted.
More women than men were targeted by a boss or senior manager – 30% compared with 12% – and one in 10 women who had experienced harassment said it led to them leaving their job or place of study.
The results of the BBC survey follow research published last year by the TUC which also suggested more than half of women say they have been sexually harassed at work – and most had not reported it.
Activist Tarana Burke is the founder of the original Me Too campaign – launched 10 years ago in the United States to provide “empowerment through empathy” to survivors of sexual abuse, assault, exploitation, and harassment in underprivileged communities.
She told 5 Live she feels there is now momentum behind a genuine change in the way sexual harassment is handled.
“From what I’m seeing and hearing, and from the groundswell of support for this, it doesn’t feel like it’s stopping,” she said.
“My ultimate goal is to make sure this is not just a moment, that this is a movement, and we will continue to raise our voices, we will continue to disrupt, we will continue to tell our stories until we are heard and until we move the needle.”
BBC
