Am I correct in thinking Social Anxiety and the fear of being accused of Sexual Harassment are linked?

Question

I constantly worry something I say no matter how innocent will be interpreted as sexual harassment. I was accused once, nothing came of it, but it doesn't stop the anxiety. In my mind, everything is sexual harassment, so I avoid contact with women at work.

Actually, my social anxiety is not specifically linked to Sexual Harassment. It is my belief the fear of being accused intensifies the "normal" social anxiety I always feel. This causes me to avoid situations with women at work. I even avoid eating in the company cafeteria especially if I am by myself.

Answer 1

It might be linked for you. Social Anxiety often includes fears of not being socially appropriate or of being judged for some reason. That could definitely be related to your ideas on sexual harrassment.
Some people have social anxiety about all social situations, while others have very specific fears like fear of eating in public.
Maybe you should talk to your doctor about that.
Please look at the link I provided, and check out the area titled "Social Phobia"--I think you will find it helpful.

Answer 2

Perhaps the experience you had being accused of sexual harassment traumatized you which resulted in an anxiety disorder. Social anxiety is fear of being around people. In your case you have a fear of being accused of saying or doing something which would be viewed as sexually inappropriate. You don't have a general fear of being around people. Your fear is about a specific issue or fear so the two are not related. Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Listening from what you have said and from me coming from the other end of the stick I will try to give you an impartial view point so you can understand. I am a women that tolerated all kinds of comments from a man at work and usually brushed it off as he was just being himself acting silly. That was until one evening when I was leaving work he took it a little to far and forced me down and assaulted me. I am still going through a great ordeal about this and have learned alot. A comment may not be offensive to one person sitting there, but could be to the other person. They can also view your comments in many ways. What you feel is a joke may be taken serious from others and when the comments start to show a pattern you could end up in serious trouble. It is better to stick with the business at hand and not comment in general about people or other things. I worked with alot of people and he would make comments to many female staff and he felt he was not doing anything wrong until all thes co-workers came back and said they did not feel comfortable and felt degraded. He thought suttle comments like telling women he was a foot man and liked women with long fingernails was okay it seemed okay until he kept pressing the issue more and more.
So be cautious and use your judgement wisely!!!! You can be friends but not close friends with female co-workers and that goes vice versa

Answer 4

You need professional help. I don't say this to be mean.

I have anxiety and also can relate to the other thing.

No, I am not a predator. But my sister and I were hurt once by different people at different times. With all the time spent in counseling, therapy, and treatment, I think I can relate enough to encourage you to get help.

You don't have to be alone out there in the world.

My advice is be professional with EVERYONE at work, and choose your friends elsewhere. Okay?

Answer 5

I think you already had a social anxiety and being accused of sexual harassment affected it. I don't think fear of being accused of sexual harassment causes a social anxiety that isn't already there.

Answer 6

Well, this could be a form of social anxiety. Anything that changes your normal behavior and makes you feel overwhelmingly uncomfortable that you make changes to your life can be a social Phobia. However, is there anything that happened in your life where you heard of someone being wrongly accused? Think about it. be a good person treat others as you want to be treated.

Answer 7

you are almost right. these two things are indirectly related. people with SA usually have OCD. ocd causes people to have irrational beliefs and fears. one of your fears is being accused of sexual harassment. i have a lot of fears also that are irrational. its good that you are trying to find the root of your problem. i just spent months reaching deep in my soul blah blah. lol not too sound too cliche, but its true. anyway, thats what you have to do. it seems hard now, but eventually things come together. its a confusing time for people like us.

Answer 8

Wow, that has happened to me yeah, mind we have to keep in mind the American / English translation differences You say Sneeze and we say sniff You say pants and we say Knickers you say accused and we say prosecuted Oh umm, we say ''happened to me'' when we meant someone else we didn't really know very well at all and didn't like very much either, probably a French guy or something

Answer 9

I have read some litterature about panic attacks. But they allways seem to have a more scientific approach and that is nothing I need in my struggle to survive those horrible panic attacks. This is a "hand on" and very practical book. I felt it was written to me. I am sure that you are going to feel the same.

Joe Barry writes exactly how I think. The examples are perfectly described. And the method is genius. I recommend this book and thanks Joe Barry for writing it. It changes your life

Answer 10

Yikes!

I think you need to talk about it with a person (either gender) that you know well. They can give you feedback on how you come across.

There was nothing in your question that conveyed sexual harassment...

In any case, you can come with anxieties over ANYTHING. This, though interesting, isn't particularly surprising.