No Joking In Sexual Harassment

JAKARTA - Five vocational students in Bolaang Mongondow Regency, North Sulawesi are suspects of sexual harassment against their schoolmates. This case came to light after the video of the harassment was spread on social media on both Twitter and Instagram.

The five suspects are charged under Article 82 of Law Number 35 of 2014 concerning Child Protection with the threat of a minimum sentence of 5 years, a maximum of 15 years in prison.

The motive for the five of them to commit sexual harassment was just a joke, to fill the time waiting for the teacher to come to class. Yet as a result of this incident, the victim was traumatized.

Reflecting on this case, psychologist Rose Mini Agoes Salim said that joking with harassment was something that could not be tolerated. Therefore, he considers that sexual education needs to be applied in which the material explains the parts of the body that can be held by the opposite sex.

"There is no kidding for sexual harassment, it is still not true. So joking has limits, a child who has done sex education will know which parts of the body should not be touched, which parts of the body that cannot be touched, which cannot be talked about, was harassed in a fun way, the child knows, "Rose told VOI when contacted by telephone, Wednesday, March 11.

Harassment, according to Rose, is usually done by parties who feel they have power over others. So, it is necessary to make children feel confident to fight offenders of sexual harassment.

"When he experiences this he can tell the perpetrator or other people that I don't like being treated like this. ... That's why our children, must be equipped with the ability to say no or do something, talk about something that he is experiencing. don't just keep quiet because he's scared, "he explained.

Rose added that a victim of sexual harassment must get space to talk about what she has experienced. Making children feel safe and comfortable conveying what they feel is the most important thing to do as a handling of the trauma.

In addition to disclosing the incident, this is also useful so that the harassment can be reported immediately by the authorities. The goal is so that the legal process can be carried out immediately.

"For them to be open, they must have a channel for him to tell stories first. Why doesn't he want to tell, because he's afraid and the second one is embarrassed, right? So, they really have to go to an expert so they can talk to convince themselves."

Psychologist Rose Mini Agoes Salim

It is known that sexual harassment often occurs in the world of education. In 2019, the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) recorded 21 cases of sexual violence with 123 students consisting of 71 girls and 52 boys.

From that data, the KPAI also mentions 21 cases of sexual violence that occurred in these schools, 13 cases or 62 percent occurred at the elementary school level, 5 cases or 24 percent at the junior high school level / equivalent and 3 cases or 14 percent at the high school level.