Sexual harassment victims must stand up and boldly voice up so that habitual harassers can be kept at bay.

On Wednesday, the Dewan Rakyat voted to pass the Anti-Sexual Harassment Bill that will put anyone found guilty of sexual harassment liable to openly apologise and pay their victims up to RM250,000 in compensation or serve a two-year jail term in default.

Sexual harassment is not synonymous with sexual abuse (rape, molest, etc.) but the phenomenon is ubiquitous at workplace, campuses and dining joints.

As women, family and community development minister Rina Harun has said, many sexual harassment victims have in the past refrained from speaking up due to shame or fear and that we must let the public know this should not become a norm.

So what is sexual harassment? Section 2 of the bill defines sexual harassment as including verbal, non-verbal, visual, gestural or physical harassment inflicted upon the victim, or any unwelcome move that will offend, humiliate or pose a threat to the victim’s health.

In short, any act that is committed against the will of other people – be it through the display or transmission of any text, image, voice or video, or discriminatory or humiliating remarks or actions that will frighten or degrade one’s dignity – could all constitute an act of sexual harassment.

As such, openly uttering obscenities or intimate physical contacts at office or school campus, or the transmission of pornographic contents and images could all be deemed to be sexual harassment, so long as the action has caused discomfort in the victim.

Any unnecessary physical contact during a sports training session, or when a male teacher is in solitude with a female student, or when a male supervisor gives instructions to his female subordinate, could also be sexual harassment.

Sexual harassment is extremely common. In a 2018 survey in the United States, some 81% of women and 43% of men had experienced varying degrees of sexual harassment in various occasions.

However, the US judiciary does not consider any unwelcome move suggestive of sex to be sexual harassment, the definition of which must conform to generally accepted code of conduct. This is to stave off unnecessary litigation and overprotection of oversensitive individuals.

#MeeToo has since become a global byword for sexual harassment.

American film producer Harvey Weinstein, whose Shakespeare in Love won seven Oscars at the Academy Awards, was charged in 2017 for sexually harassing or abusing more than 70 women, including actresses, models, etc., the most famous of whom being Angelina Jolie.

Subsequent to that, actress Alyssa Milano started the #MeeToo hashtag on Twitter, and received over 4.7 million responses within 24 hours, including from Lady Gaga, Patricia Arquette, Ellen DeGeneres and Monica Lewinsky.

Of course, not all the 4.7 million were Weinstein’s victims but at least it showed how serious and common the issue of sexual harassment was.

Morgan Freeman was less fortunate, being a victim of the #MeeToo campaign at an advanced age of 80.

Unlike producer Weinstein, Freeman only said something he thought was fun but should not have been spoken, and did something physical he should have avoided in an open occasion, and paid the price of his reputation for the misdeeds.

No doubt the #MeeToo campaign has put many a male Hollywood producer, director and actor on a tightrope, treading extremely cautiously or risking the end of their careers.

Minister Rina Harun said the Anti-Sexual Harassment Bill was proposed way back in 2011 and was only adopted this July 20 on third reading. Anway, it’s better late than never!

She also said sexual harassment courts would be set up in states nationwide because of the enormous number of anticipated cases to be heard in court.

It is hoped that victims of sexual harassment will stand up and boldly voice up so that habitual harassers can be kept at bay.