...physical assault is one thing, criminalizing offensive speech quite another.
I think that Derec has a point. I don't agree that offensive speech should be criminalized---to a point. Most of us agree that it is wrong and a criminal offense to cry Fire in crowded theater when there is no fire. It would create a very serious public safety concern and should be a criminal offense.
With regards to sexual harassment, I think it is a bit less clear. Sexual harassment is clearly always wrong. It is not so clear that it is always or even often a
criminal offense.
A number of states have laws against making terroristic threats. These offenses are generally felonies. The definition of terroristic threat depends on the state but under some state statutes, some sexual harassment could be considered a terroristic threat. For example: threatening to sexually assault another person.
Most harassment does not probably rise to the level of criminal offense. Getting cat called at a bus stop, for instance.
But some conduct does perhaps rise to that level: Being surrounded by 3 guys on a subway car who are all making increasingly intimate and sexual remarks and gestures to the lone woman they have surrounded? That's much closer to criminal, in my opinion because it comes attached with a credible threat of immediate harm.
Quite a bit of the harassment women face comes in the workplace or from persons who have power over them, such as landlords or law enforcement. While some kinds of comments and behaviors are not explicitly designed to make a person feel threatened, it can, indeed, make someone feel threatened, demeaned, marginalized, intimidated, and can cause them to be seen as less valuable and effective on the job. Those are clearly instances where this is an HR concern and the person(s) harassing another person need to be sanctioned and the victim needs to be made to feel safe.
For the record: the first time I ever was wolf whistled at: I was 3 or 4 years old.
