Defining the Issues
What is Sexual Assault?
Definition: Sexual Assault is an act of VIOLENCE, POWER, and CONTROL in which one person forces or manipulates another person into unwanted sexual behavior.
This includes:
- Exposure to inappropriate materials (pornographic pictures or videos, flashing, or exhibitionism)
- Sexual contact (unwanted touches)
- Sexual harassment
- Rape: actual or attempted vaginal, oral, or anal penetration by an object, body part, or ejaculated bodily fluid.
What is Sexual Harassment?
Definition: Sexual Harassment is any unwanted or unwelcome behavior that is sexual or sexist in nature, is severe or pervasive, and/or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive educational or employment environment.
This can include:
- Sexual flirtation, touching, advances or propositions
- Verbal abuse of a sexual nature
- Pressure to engage in sexual activity
- Graphic or suggestive comments about an individual’s dress or appearance
- Use of sexually degrading words to describe an individual
- Display of sexually suggestive objects, pictures or photographs
- Sexual jokes or stereotypic comments based upon gender
- Threats, demands or suggestions that retention of one’s educational status is contingent upon toleration of or acquiescence in sexual advances.
What is Intimate Partner Violence?
Definition: A pattern of abusive behaviors in an intimate relationship where one partner tries to control and dominate the other. This includes acts of violence or threats of violence.
- Also known as, “dating violence,” “domestic violence,” or “family violence.”
- Assaulting, threatening, or stalking an intimate partner is a crime in the state of Connecticut.
What is Stalking?
Definition: A course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear. Stalking is serious, often violent, and can escalate over time.
- It involves repeatedly contacting another person when the contacting person knows or should know that the contact is unwanted.
- Contacting includes communicating with or remaining in the physical presence of the other person.
- Stalking behaviors include unwanted communication in person, through technology (social media, texting, phone calls, etc) or through a third party (family, friends, etc).
