In today’s society phrases such as “I couldn’t move my body when he placed his hands on my

thighs” or “my silence doesn’t mean consent” comes to mind when we speak of sexual
harassment. Sexual harassment has become an everyday occurrence and it can happen
anywhere even at the comfort of your home. Unwanted physical touch and verbal harassment in
public places, offices, schools, or in any inappropriate places isn’t the only thing that the
predators can do. Most of it goes under the radar with the use of social media. Social media is an
open platform in which anyone can be a victim of sexual harassment while the predators finds
their prey undetected and vulnerable. Sexual predators can wield of dominance, control, and
power, what make me despise them is that they can get away with their actions leaving the
victim with emotional scarring for the rest of the person’s life. In spite of these situations only
half of those who have been a victim of sexual harassment have reported it to the authorities or
told someone about it. Beliefs that “I can do what I want and get away with it” or “I have power
and connections (threaten the victims)” gradually instills on the predators mindset whenever
he/she harasses someone weak or vulnerable this is why they gain power and act on their
inappropriate desires. Victims are then subjected to fear and helplessness believing that they
have no power or right to stop them. Letting the victim think that its his/her fault but it never is.

Here are my judgment shortcuts and attribution factors that negatively swayed my beliefs and
judgments in this particular group of people.

Consistency
Sexual predators usually hunt their prey on a one is to one basis sometimes in groups. “kung
manyak ka, manyak ka talaga” then there are online predators that put on vulgar comments on
posts of women. There are many sexual predators nowadays that are roaming through social
medias. Some predators chat their victims forcing them to give them pictures or videos an it they
don’t the predators would use threatening words for the victims to feel trapped leaving them no
choice but to give them what they want. Even though they know that their actions are wrong
they still do it anyway. I find this alarming and disturbing that just for the sake of satisfying their
sexual needs they come to the point of sexually harassing their victims whether it may be a child,
teen, or adult. By sexually harassing his/her victim it makes the predator think that its normal if
the victim is scared, unable to make a move/sound this gives the predator power and
dominance, by normalizing this behavior this results to the predator doing this everyday
without a hint of guilt.

Stereotyping
Most sexual predators have the same characteristics so whenever I hear or see news about cases
of harassment I would immediately think that the predator is manipulative, deceptive, abusive
and such. The social media, news, and my environment influenced me to view predators
negatively. This caused my judgments to think of them as the bad guys. Whenever I see sexual
comments, news about rape, or on sexual harassment I immediately think that this person is a
sexual predator. There are also cases in which the victim is the one at fault “ginusto mo naman
yan” or “you’re showing off too much skin”. In which there are people who also side with this
mindset that “para hindi ka mabastos dress up decently” or “cover yourself up” There was a
point where I sided with the mindset that it’s the victims fault. After realizing that it will always
be the predators fault I stuck to my belief that no matter what women choose to wear sexual
predators will strike his/her victim whether it’s a child, woman, or an elderly.
I experienced cognitive dissonance in this group such as it’s the victims fault for showing off too
much skin and I’ve read comments in social media such as “kung ayaw mo mabastos mag damit
ka ng maayos” or “ hindi naman kami magiisip ng kung ano kung nakadamit ka ng maayos”
Sexual predators are manipulative they could turn the tables around. There was a time that I
believed that it’s the victims fault for dressing that way and posting those pictures on social
media but in reality it’s not the victims fault. What I did in order to eliminate the dissonance is I
searched cases of sexual harassments, this widened my perspective on who sexual predators are
and what they could do. Sexual predators could manipulate the views of the majority to make us
think that it’s a normal thing for them then they start victim blaming. In short I became aware
and identified the red flags of sexual predators.

BONUS
Selective Perception
I tend to judge other people base on my experience, their attitude towards me, if my interests
are similar to them, and whether I like them or not on my own judgments.

Status Quo Bias

I usually stick to what I’ve grown comfort into believing there are times in which I just agree to
the majority if I see that I’m the only one with a different belief.