Sexual harassment

Latest release

Personal safety survey: User guide

Reference period

2021-22

Released

27/11/2023

Next release Unknown

Population

Information regarding experiences of sexual harassment in the last 12 months was obtained from men and women aged 18 years and over in the 2021-22 PSS.

Definition

Sexual harassment is considered to have occurred when a person has experienced or been subjected to one or more selected behaviours which they found improper or unwanted, made them feel uncomfortable, and/or found offensive due to their sexual nature.

Methodology

The sexual harassment topic consists of a set of questions asking about experiences of sexual harassment in the 12 months prior to the survey. Questions in this topic were asked twice – once for sexual harassment by a man and then repeated for sexual harassment by a woman.

Respondents were asked if they experienced any of the following selected behaviours, presented in the table below, in the last 12 months, which they found improper or unwanted, made them feel uncomfortable, and/or found offensive due to their sexual nature.

Sexual Harassment Behaviours
Behaviours	Inclusions/Exclusions
Indecent phone call	Inclusion Phone calls that went to voicemail or answering machines Exclusions Phone calls or messages in which profanity was used, unless this was offensive due to its sexual nature Phone calls or messages involving racial vilification, unless this was offensive due to its sexual content e.g. implying that people of a particular cultural group have certain sexual characteristics Phone calls or messages that were part of a stalking incident (these are defined and collected as part of the stalking topic – see Stalking chapter)
Indecent text, email or post	Inclusions Electronic messages (such as text messages, SMS, MMS, posts on Facebook, emails, or other Internet messages) Written messages (such as letters delivered by mail or notes) left where they could be found by the person 'Post’ includes both posting information on internet social networking sites, and post sent via the mail Exclusions Messages in which profanity was used, unless this was offensive due to its sexual content Messages involving racial vilification, unless this was offensive due to its sexual content e.g. implying that people of a particular cultural group have certain sexual characteristics Messages that were part of a stalking incident (these are defined and collected as part of the stalking topic – see Stalking chapter)
Indecent exposure	Inclusion Exposing genitals for the purpose of distressing, shocking, humiliating and/or generating fear in a person
Inappropriate comments about body or sex life	Inclusions Inappropriate comments in a group situation as well as when the respondent is alone with the person who is harassing them Sexual comments that are related to the respondent’s race, such as implying that people of a particular cultural group have certain sexual characteristics
Unwanted touching, grabbing, kissing, or fondling	Inclusion Momentary or brief touching or contact, for example groping or brushing against a breast or bottom Exclusion Incidents of a sexual nature which were longer than momentary (these are recorded as sexual assault in the violence topic. See Violence – Prevalence chapter)
Distributing or posting pictures or videos of the person, that were sexual in nature, without their consent	Inclusion Taking a photo or video which was sexual in nature without their consent, or showing/sending/posting the photos/videos which were sexual in nature without their consent
Exposed to pictures, videos, or materials which were sexual in nature that the person did not wish to see	Inclusions Emailing the person or making them watch pornography Displaying posters, magazines, or screen savers of a sexual nature for the person to see

Characteristics of sexual harassment incidents

Respondents who had experienced sexual harassment in the last 12 months were asked about the method/s by which sexual harassment was perpetrated (face-to-face, electronically, or other method), the location/s where sexual harassment occurred (face-to-face incidents only), and their relationship to the perpetrator/s of the sexual harassment incidents.

Data items

The data items and related output categories for this topic are contained within the SPS Level – Sexual Harassment tab in the data item list available under Downloads.

Data uses

Sexual harassment data can be used to examine:

the estimated number and proportion (prevalence rate) of persons who have experienced sexual harassment in the last 12 months
whether rates of sexual harassment have changed over time (comparison with previous PSS editions)
rates of different types of sexual harassment experienced in the last 12 months
differences in rates of sexual harassment, by socio-demographic groups
rates of sexual harassment by a male and a female perpetrator
rates of sexual harassment by different relationship types
the location of face-to-face incidents of sexual harassment
the methods by which sexual harassment was perpetrated
whether experienced sexual harassment and other types of violence in the last 12 months (e.g. sexual violence, physical violence, stalking).

Interpretation

Points to be considered when using and interpreting data for this topic include the following:

Whether or not any sexual harassment amounted to a criminal offence cannot be determined from the information collected.
The PSS only asked respondents about selected sexual harassment behaviours, and therefore may not capture all forms of sexual harassment that exist.
The recognition and identification of any behaviour as sexual harassment was based on the respondent’s subjective beliefs regarding the nature and perceived intent of the behaviour. Individual differences in thresholds for what constitutes improper, unwanted, or offensive behaviour will affect how respondents interpret and answer these questions.

Comparability with previous surveys

Information about experiences of sexual harassment was collected in all previous editions of the PSS, as well as in the 1996 Women’s Safety Survey (WSS).

The following should be noted when making comparisons:

The 1996 WSS only collected information about women’s experiences of sexual harassment by a man. All PSS editions collected information about men’s and women’s experiences of sexual harassment by both a man and a woman.
From 2012 onwards, the PSS specified that the sexual harassment behaviours had to be found to be improper or offensive due to their sexual nature. The 1996 WSS and 2005 PSS merely determined if respondents had ever experienced the sexual harassment behaviours and did not ask whether the respondent found the behaviours to be improper or offensive due to their sexual nature. This should be considered when comparing sexual harassment data before and after 2012.
New sexual harassment behaviours were added from the 2016 PSS onwards to accurately capture emerging trends in experiences of sexual harassment (such as the use of information and communications technology). Although these behaviours may have previously been collected as part of other categories, this expansion of categories should be taken into consideration when comparing sexual harassment prevalence rates before and after 2016.
For the 2021-22 the PSS lifetime experiences of sexual harassment were not asked. Lifetime estimates are expected to remain relatively stable over a short-time frame. Refer to the 2016 data for these prevalence estimates and proportions.

COMPARISONS WITH OTHER CYCLES
	1996 Women's Safety Survey	2005 Personal Safety Survey	2012 Personal Safety Survey	2016 Personal Safety Survey	2021-22 Personal Safety Survey
Population	Women aged 18 years and over	Men and women aged 18 years and over	Men and women aged 18 years and over	Men and women aged 18 years and over	Men and women aged 18 years and over
Timeframe	Whether ever experienced sexual harassment in lifetime and last 12 months	Whether ever experienced sexual harassment in lifetime and last 12 months	Whether ever experienced sexual harassment in lifetime and last 12 months	Whether ever experienced sexual harassment in lifetime and last 12 months	Whether experienced sexual harassment in the last 12 months
Perpetrator sex	Male	Male and female	Male and female	Male and female	Male and female
Sexual harassment behaviours	Obscene phone call Indecent exposure Inappropriate comments about body/sex life Unwanted sexual touching	Obscene phone call Indecent exposure Inappropriate comments about body/sex life Unwanted sexual touching	Indecent phone calls Indecent text, email, or post Indecent exposure Inappropriate comments about body/sex life Unwanted touching, grabbing, kissing, fondling	Indecent phone calls Indecent text, email or post Indecent exposure Inappropriate comments about body or sex life Unwanted touching, grabbing, kissing or fondling Distributing or posting pictures or videos of the person without their consent Exposed to pictures or videos	Indecent phone calls Indecent text, email or post Indecent exposure Inappropriate comments about body or sex life Unwanted touching, grabbing, kissing or fondling Distributing or posting pictures or videos of the person without their consent Exposed to pictures or videos
Comparability	1996 data is comparable with 2005 male perpetrator data, but not comparable with 2012, 2016 and 2021-22 data	2005 male perpetrator data is comparable with 1996 data, but not comparable with 2012, 2016 and 2021-22 data.	2012 data is comparable with 2016 data and 2021-22 for 12-month data, but not comparable to 1996 or 2005 data.	2016 data is comparable with 2012 data and 2021-22 for 12-month data, but not comparable to 1996 or 2005 data.	2021-22 data is comparable with 2016 and 2012 for 12-month data, but not comparable to 1996 or 2005 data.

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