Reboot: E is for Egregious Harm - a podcast by Dr. Lori Beth Bisbey - A to Z of Sex

Please enjoy again: E is for Egregious Harm
 E is for Egregious Harm
Hi everyone!  Welcome to the A to Z of Sex.  I’m Dr Lori Beth and I am your host.  We are working our way through the erotic alphabet one letter at a time.  Just a reminder this podcast deals with adult content, so if you don’t have total privacy, you might want to put on your headphones.  Today the letter is E and E is for Egregious Harm.  Egregious means outstandingly bad and/or shocking.  
This may seem a strange topic for me to pick, but in the last few weeks the press has been filled with stories about sexual harassment, sexual touching without consent.   Most of the recent stories come from television and film industry and politics.  But many industries (like banking for example) are rife with scandals around sexual harassment and also sexual favours in order to get better jobs or bonuses.
 This week I want to first look a bit at what happens when someone is violated or touched without consent and then look at why we, as a society, seem to have so much trouble getting rid of this problem.
 Part of the issue is that defining violation and/or sexual harassment is subjective.  Many times, harassment comes in the form of innuendo and pressure to do something.   The issue as to whether consent has been granted then becomes the focal point.  When the pressure to have sex with a boss is that a job will be lost or a promotion will not be forthcoming, many people go ahead and accept the sexual contact.  The issue is then more complicated as the consent is given grudgingly but it is still given.
 Of course, when we look at consent, we have to look at whether a person is able to give or deny consent freely.  If you believe you will lose a job if you don’t consent, you are not free to choose.   Woman’s Watch highlights the definition of sexual harassment that is commonly accepted speaks of unwelcome behaviour and clearly highlights that a person may engage in the behaviour and accept the advances even though they really don’t want to because they fear losing a job or other negative consequences.  As a result, they are not truly consenting.
 In the film industry, the point has been made that lip service is paid to anti-discrimination policies and people say that if you bring a case you may win some money but you will never work again.
 What impact does being violated have on the person?  Impacts vary depending upon the type of violation: Was it a rape?  Did someone grope you?  Impacts vary depending upon the number of violations.  Finally impacts vary depending upon the person being violated: Some people are very resilient and it has little effect and others are not so resilient and it has devastating effect.
 People who have been violated sexually report lower self-esteem, higher incidents of depression, higher levels of anxiety, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, sleep problems, neck pain, problems with relationships and a loss of enjoyment in their sexual relationships.  There is even research that sexual harassment will increase blood pressure.  There was even a study done in Canada that found that women who had experienced repeated incidents of sexual harassment reported higher levels of suicidal thoughts. The impact is egregious and lasting. 
 We are aware of the damage sexual harassment and sexual violation does and have been so for a long time.  Much effort and money has been expended to create anti-sexual harassment policies in many industries, to provide sensitivity training to workers in many industries to lower the incidence of sexual harassment.    And yet, people don’t appear to take the steps necessary to get rid of the perpetrators despite the damage they do.
 The Harvey Weinstein scandal spot lighted:
            How many women accept pay offs following harassment incidents and            don’t go public about the predators.  This casts some doubt on the
            motivation around...

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