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Addressing sexual misconduct
There are a number of terms we use that you need to be familiar with.
For more definitions of EDI-related terms, please see our glossary − The ABC of EDI
Consent
Permission for something to happen or agreement to do something.
Controlling behaviour
A range of acts designed to make a person subordinate and/or dependent by isolating them from sources of support, exploiting their resources and capacities for personal gain, depriving them of the means needed for independence, resistance, and escape and regulating their everyday behaviour.
[Source: UK Government]
Equality Act 2010
The Equality Act 2010 prohibits all employers, service providers, and providers of education, from discriminating against, harassing, or victimising individuals with protected characteristics.
Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)
The Equality and Human Rights Commission is an independent statutory body with the responsibility to encourage equality and diversity, eliminate unlawful discrimination, and protect and promote the human rights of everyone in the UK. It enforces equality legislation on protected characteristics.
False consensus
When someone’s inappropriate behaviour is not challenged; they believe that everyone around them finds the behaviour acceptable.
Informed consent
Permission granted in full knowledge. Informed consent is one of the founding principles of research ethics. Its intent is that human participants can enter research freely (voluntarily) with full information about what it means for them to take part, and that they give consent before they enter the research.
Minority behaviour
A behaviour that is deemed unacceptable and is not adopted by those around you.
Misogyny
A type of gender-based oppression founded in the belief that women are inferior to and must remain subordinate to men. Misogyny literally means ‘hatred of women’. It is predicated upon the binary gender system. Misogyny, and societal acceptance of it, can be blamed for men's violence against women and girls (including trans women); discrimination against women in employment, education, and politics; lack of appropriate health care for women; and continuing unequal divisions of labour in the home, among many other social inequities.
Performative allyship
The act of outwardly appearing committed to a cause while declining to take any major actions to support it.
Plural ignorance
When people underestimate the internal beliefs of others around them. They tend to believe that they are in the minority and that no one else around them finds a specific behaviour inappropriate when they are actually in the majority.
Protected characteristic
The Equality Act 2010 specifies nine features which, for the advancement of equality of opportunity, are afforded protection from discrimination, harassment, and victimisation. The specific attributes safeguarded are: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
Representation
Depicting or 'making present' something which is absent.
Sex
The biological classification of male or female based on physiological and biological features. A person’s sex may differ from their gender identity.
Sex-based rights
What is usually meant by the phrase ‘sex based rights’ are the exceptions set out in the Equality Act allowing services and public functions to offer a single or separate sex service, and to offer this on the basis of biological sex, as well as allowing employers to recruit for only a member of one sex where there is a genuine occupational requirement, women only membership associations, and women only sports.
Sexual consent
An agreement between participants to engage in sexual activity. Consent should be clearly and freely communicated. Legally, a person is consenting if they agree by choice and have the freedom and capacity to make that choice. Saying ‘yes’ out of fear of consequences is not consent.
Important distinctions about sexual consent:
consenting to one sexual act does not mean you’re giving consent to another. For example, you may consent to kissing, but not to sex
you can revoke consent at any time, including during sex
not saying ‘no’ does not mean sex is consensual
someone who is asleep or unconscious cannot consent to sex
Sexual harassment
Occurs when someone is engaging in unwanted conduct of a sexual nature and the conduct has the purpose or effect of either violating the other person’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment for them. Sexual harassment can include many behaviours.
Unconscious bias
Negative associations expressed automatically that people unknowingly hold. Occurs when someone may stereotype or hold preconceived notions about other individuals based on personal or learned experiences.
Underrepresented groups
Communities or individuals who have limited representation and voice in the workplace and/or in society. This may include race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, or low-income status.
Victimisation
Occurs when an individual is singled out for unfair treatment or discrimination as a result of making a complaint / grievance, threatening to make a complaint / grievance, or supporting a complaint / grievance made by a third party.
Workplace culture
The regular attitudes and behaviours that feed into the atmosphere and performance of a workplace. A healthy workplace culture occurs when the organisation’s policies and ethos align with employees’ beliefs and behaviours, maintaining good performance and employee wellbeing.
