But most victims of harassment are disempowered and feel they have few options. If a harassment victim takes any action, it is usually either to request a transfer or to quit her job. It is impossible to make a comprehensive list of all behaviors that could constitute sexual harassment. What is important is the effect of the questionable behavior on its victim. Behavior that is highly amusing to one person may be very unwelcome to another.
Many fire chiefs find it difficult to learn of harassment going on in their department.
Harassment, after all, rarely goes on in front of those who would take steps to stop it. Other chiefs may be reluctant to deal with sexual harassment at all, believing that writing policies or providing training will increase the number of harassment complaints. Complaints of harassment may indeed increase slightly for a short time after anti-harassment training is done. This is a good sign. Employees who are knowledgeable about harassment and confident in management's stance against it are much more likely to try to resolve harassment informally, before it becomes a major problem.