AFTER decades, the Sexual Harassment Bill was sent to Parliament by Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller as a defining bit of social legislation. This is progress. The Bill is not gender-specific, but over years, women, though well ahead on most metrics, are the main victims of sexual harassment.

The gender discrepancies of Africa, Asia and Arabia are not ours as we need to empower boys. Despite advancement, ‘peeps’ say an indescribable trait leads to female entrapment in relationships they would not have chosen and are then exploited. This Act will offer secure complaint, assured adjudication and redress for women and men.

As a sexualized society our sexual harassment is more nuanced than the Bill contemplates. When the lady on the country bus says, “Sar, tek yu… from offa mi shoulda!” passengers explode with laughter as the ‘trussed fowl’ is moved. Sexual allusion and innuendo is embedded in the warp and woof of our lives with no intent to be lewd. Will law change this, or will we be awash with cultural complaints?

Many live on the margins, and pride and poverty are creative — understood locally but less so abroad. Harassment may be cat calls by workers to a passing beauty, which the “stush” do not appreciate, but grass roots women know the feral anthem: “Cho, ah suh dem deh man stay, dem nuh mean nutten.” Their lyrics are vivid descriptors of an imagined sex olympiad with no caring or foreplay. Will this Act help in these cases?

Canadian Maria Monk wrote

The hidden secrets of a nun’s life exposed of kids born to priests, nuns; baptised, killed — a lurid fiction and my first encounter with abberant sex as I was weaned from Catholic school. Sexual harassment has many faces, many locations, and may damage female and male. Our small society is complex, so where you find poverty and disadvantage look for sexploitation. As the Bill is debated a more nuanced picture may emerge than in the UK. The Industrial Disputes Tribunal (IDT) and the Resident Magistrates’ Courts may not be appropriate and we may have to create more intimate, age-appropriate settings.

Belle de Jour was also a watershed book. Dr Brooke Magnanti had London on tenterhooks in the noughties with her anonymous “diary of a London call girl” in 2003. She put herself through university selling sex to rich men at a whopping £500 an hour. She wrote the book at age 34 and no one knew she was a cancer research scientist at a top London hospital. She came clean and mom, friends and employer were shocked.

‘Peeps’ say students here are into cash relationships to pay fees — pressure or leveraging their assets? What might the Act say? Even the term ‘sexual harassment’ emerged on US campuses where lecturers abused students’ trust. Peeps say “sex for passing grades” is also here. Hands up if you got a degree for sex? IDT or court?

The Cosby Show was my Mom’s ideal. Bill, her hero, my role model; what a generational letdown? The elephant in the room is the women who have not come forward. Stockholm Syndrome? The casting couch is a path to the silver screen. Youth star struck by good looks, ambition, celebrity, and money are vulnerable. A leading actor wields power; who is bedded gets the part?

Elizabeth Taylor was no sloth around men, either. How do we deal with mutually beneficial sexual congress? There will be some tough cases. Me guilty? No, Sir!

In praise of older women was an exciting and raunchy book, but the reality is not as benign. Peeps say there are females who stake out campuses to initiate young men fresh from home. But peeps also say boys now come to ‘uni’ with sex experience. What?! Will the Act cover these? There is a dark side when pre-pubescent boys and girls are initiated before time. Last year a few teachers were jailed in the UK and one female jailed twice as she would not give up her student lover. Maids and nannies initiating the scion of the classes is default here, and tourist’s kids too — a new product, scourge? Early sexual initiation may affect later life and parents do not have a clue. Think of my nanny before the IDT? No!

Grown men talk of early on-demand sex after school before parents are home. Their adult relationships may well show the impact. Who is guilty of what? We need research, including mother/son and father/daughter nexus. The Act speaks to work and tenants. Think again! What about retroactivity? The British have no statute of limitation on sex crimes, and so ace disc jockey Jimmy Saville is dead but honours posthumously stripped; Rolf Harris, family entertainer, in jail and last week Stuart Hall of broadcasting fame, now geriatric, was on probation though some families object. Death is no defence!

Power and poverty is in most sexual harassment situations. All interconnected and things tend to go south. Major power differentials breed the ‘harassment’. Job and institutional power is clear, but what of other power — age vs youth, success vs initiate, plenty vs need, teacher vs student, parson vs sinner, celebrity vs wannabe — permutations of differential power.

School is one of the most unsafe spaces for young people as it is a magnet for all kinds of predators who exploit the vulnerable. Weak, insecure males, “butch” females need novices to work their wiles. Personal development, values, nutrition is good inoculation. Tales of the games mistress as well as the sports coach abound in the interstices of sport and are consummated in the agony of defeat or the euphoria of victory when judgement is lost. Clean security forces are pivotal to the liberation and success of females. Peeps say the notion that female recruits need a protector must be debunked by this Act. Peeps say only if a man sees a “brand” on a female will he desist from sexual importuning. The political directorate and civil service has to evolve modalities to protect the star-struck officer from self and others. Church, home, sports, and games teams, female and male sexual predators thrive in any circumstance. Will the Act speak? This Bill is a start. We must get this law passed quickly. Then we must implement with wisdom, creativity and compassion. Stay conscious, my friend!