misconduct v. harassment v.assault
Understanding the difference between sexual misconduct, harassment, or assault can be very confusing. It can also be difficult to place what has happened in a specific category. This page contains basic information about what misconduct, harassment, or assault is.
Misconduct
Sexual Misconduct is an umbrella term that covers all forms of inappropriate or unwanted sexual behavior. This includes: sexual assault/rape, dating violence, sexual harassment, sexual violence, stalking, domestic violence, and gender or sexual orientation discrimination. Sexual Misconduct is basically a category, with a lot of different sub-categories.
Harassment
Sexual Harassment is unwelcome behavior that has sexual connotations to it. This includes unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other physical conduct or sexually expressive behavior. This includes situations in which
going along with such behavior is necessary for employment or education, situations in which submission or rejection of such conduct is used as a basis for a person's education or employment, or such conduct interferes with a person's education or employment performance. Sexual harassment can also create an intimidating, hostile, or offensive environment.
Assault
Sexual assault is any sexual contact or intercourse that occurs without the consent of all parties involved. Information about consent can be found here.
Additional Resources:
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Visit UWL's sexual misconduct page for specific definitions and information about the specific laws and statutes
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RAINN.org
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(Rape, Abuse & Incest​ National Network) is the nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization. Their website contains information about national resources for sexual assault, and information about what sexual assault is. The website also contains information about specific specific laws regarding sex crimes in each state, including Wisconsin.
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