Employees can use the law and their company's complaint procedures to protect themselves from harassment.

In legal terms, sexual harassment is any unwelcome sexual advance or conduct on the job that creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment. In real life, sexually harassing behavior ranges from repeated offensive or belittling jokes to a workplace full of offensive pornography to an outright sexual assault. It can happen to men and women, gay or straight -- in other words, sexual harassment is an equal opportunity offense.

Fortunately, there are state and federal laws that protect workers from sexual harassment on the job. These are the same laws that protect workers from discrimination based on gender. At the federal level, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act forbids harassment. In addition, most states have their own fair employment practices laws that prohibit sexual harassment -- many of them more strict than the federal law.

If you are being sexually harassed at work, there are a number of things that you should do to protect yourself.

Tell the Harasser to Stop

Initially, you can try telling the harasser to stop. Although this confrontation may be difficult for you, it is often the most effective way of dealing with harassment. Some experts say it works up to 90% of the time. When confronted directly, harassment is especially likely to end if it is at a fairly low level: off-color jokes, inappropriate comments about your appearance, tacky cartoons tacked onto the office refrigerator, or repeated requests for dates after you have said no.

Clearly saying you want the offensive behavior to stop is important, because it lets the harasser know that the behavior is unwelcome -- which it must be in order to meet the legal definition of sexual harassment. It is also a crucial first step if you later decide to take more formal action against the harasser.

If the harasser ignores your oral requests to stop, or if you are uncomfortable talking to the harasser face to face, write a succinct letter demanding an end to the behavior. Be sure to keep a copy.