Other conduct under the Act

It is also unlawful under the Anti-Discrimination Act 1998 (Tas) (the Act) to:

1. Sexually harass a person.
2. Victimise a person for making a complaint or participating in the complaint process.
3. Incite, by a public act, hatred, serious contempt for, or severe ridicule on the basis of race, disability, sexual orientation, lawful sexual activity, religious belief or affiliation, religious activity, gender identity or intersex variations of sex characteristics .
4. Publish, display or advertise in a way that promotes, expresses or depicts discrimination or unlawful conduct.
5. Aid, cause or induce another person to breach the Act.
6. Engage in any conduct that offends, humiliates, intimidates, insults or ridicules another person on the basis of:

in circumstances in which a reasonable person, having regard to all the circumstances, would have anticipated that the other person would be offended, humiliated, intimidated, insulted or ridiculed.

Sexual harassment

Sometimes people experience conduct which is sexualised and makes them uncomfortable, however they do not know it is sexual harassment or are reluctant to call it that.

Sexual harassment takes place where there is conduct which is unwanted, unwelcome or not asked for, including but not limited to:

• sexually suggestive remarks, ‘jokes’ or comments
• sexual gestures and/or body movements
• intrusive questions about a person’s private life or physical appearance
• inappropriate staring or leering
• inappropriate physical contact, such as touching a person’s waist
• unwelcome touching, hugging, cornering or kissing
• asking for sex or sexual favours
• displaying material which is sexual in nature

Sexual harassment can happen in many different ways, it can be physical, verbal, online, via text, email or in other forms. Often sexual harassment is not witnessed by others, for example:

• Physical: touching someone’s body, like hugging, kissing, patting their arms, back, shoulder when they haven’t agreed to it, groping – intentionally touching private areas such as chest, buttocks, thighs without consent, physical intimidation such as using body language to trap someone against a wall
• Verbal: talking about someone’s appearance, like calling them “sexy”, saying they should wear shorter clothing, or clothing that shows off their “assets”, asking intrusive questions about someone’s sex life, relationships, sexual preferences or sexual orientation, whistling or catcalling and using derogatory terms
• Online: showing someone photos or videos on social media which is sexualised/provocative content, cyberstalking such as repeatedly messaging someone or sending them sexual content on social media, leaving sexual comments on their posts such as “you look sexy in this pic”
• Text: repeated texts asking someone to go out for drinks after work, asking if they are single, telling them “I can’t stop thinking about your body”, asking for explicit photos, using sexual or suggestive emojis
• Email: Comments like “you looked hot in that outfit yesterday”, sexual jokes, memes or images, suggesting “we could have some fun together after work”, implying someone could benefit at work by wording like “if you want to get on my good side, maybe we can meet for private chat”

There are also other forms of sexual harassment such as:

• Spreading rumours about someone’s sex life or relationships (such as saying someone has been with multiple partners to try and shame them)
• Sabotaging work or reputation after being rejected, such as giving negative feedback to someone at work after they refused a date
• Displaying sexual images or objects, like posting a calendar with sexually suggestive images, having a sexualised image as a screensaver

If you have a question about something you have experienced which made you uncomfortable, you can contact our free and confidential enquiry line on 1300 305 062 or email complaints@antidiscrimination.tas.gov.au to obtain information about your rights.