The discussion of sexual harassment has gained momentum in the last decade, particularly in the United States and in Israel as well, with the creation of the #MeToo movement. As a black woman in Israel, my experience has been that the physical and mental experience of sexual harassment is remarkably similar to that of racial harassment. In this essay, I consider how these two are related from a sociological point of view – I examine how they are accepted or rejected in the social arena, and what effect this social perception has on the harassed’s personal experience. Examining six cases, three involving sexual harassment, and three involving racial harassment, I uncover and decipher their social and individual logic.

https://doi.org/10.70959/tac.59.2024.139150