Next Time Someone Says Women Aren't Victims Of Harassment, Show Them This.

        

    It seems like there is always some new story on the news everyday about a sexual harassment case involving one athlete or another.  Not to be stereotypical or anything, but those athletes always seem to be on a football team, or… no that really looks likes that’s all it is.  In the online article “Next Time Someone Says Women Aren’t Victims Of Harassment, Show Them This,” used with permission from Robert Hugs, it shows us how the harassment can be a simple sentence that makes the woman feel uncomfortable in the situation and how easily it can be stopped by bystander intervention.  Now I don’t know if it’s America’s obsession with our Monday Night Football that the media only seem to show us sexual harassment cases in football, but I think people need to realize that it can happen in any sport, even hockey.  Sexual harassment has become unfortunately prevalent in our society, and people need to be aware that it can happen anywhere around the country and within any sport.

            Sexual harassment doesn’t just happen within professional sports organizations, but it also occurs in college sports as well.  There was a case involving two Boston University players in September of 2012 that resulted in two of the team’s high profile players being arrested because of sexual assault charges.  The article states “‘Our assessment has shown that a culture of sexual entitlement exists among some players on the men’s ice hockey team, stemming in part from their elevated social status on campus,’” and we, as a society, need to realize we are a major contribution of said entitlement.  We can’t hold these players on such a high pedestal and give them the sense that they have a “right” to act the way they do.  This is stated well in the article “Next Time Someone Says Women Aren’t Victims Of Harassment, Show Them This.”  It tells us if we simply take action as a bystander, we can stop many attacks of sexual harassment. With the help of that, we could prevent countless acts and hear less about it in the news every day.

            Looking at sexual harassment through the eyes of the hockey world made me realize it is more prevalent in every day life than I thought.  I think everybody needs to realize that being oblivious to the fact that this sort of stuff can happen right in front of us doesn’t make it go away, it just means they are turning their heads to something they could prevent, but instead they will just hear about it on the news later that night. 

           

Work Cited

Hugs, Robert. "Next Time Someone Says Women Aren't Victims Of Harassment, Show Them This.." tickld.com. N.p., 9 Aug. 2014. Web. 2 Oct. 2014. <http://www.tickld.com/x/next-time-someone-says-women-arent-victims-of-harassment-show-them>.

Kingkade, Tyler. "Boston University Hockey Team Has 'Culture Of Sexual Entitlement' Says President Robert A. Brown's Report." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 6 Sept. 2012. Web. 2 Oct. 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/06/boston-university-hockey-team-report_n_1861007.html>.