The Women and Child Development minister, Krishna Tirath, recently announced that the government will conduct a study on "what kind of (sexual) harassment of males is prevalent at workplaces." This has prompted many to wonder - male sexual harassment - is that really a thing? From Michael Douglas in Disclosure to Akshay Kumar in its Bollywood rip-off Aitraaz - there have been cases of men being victims to sexual harassment in the reel and real-life workplaces in the past. But why is the topic still not taken seriously? That's probably because though many agree that subjecting men to involuntary groping and touching is certainly not a laughable matter (ask John Travolta's last masseur and victim!), many are still used to seeing men as the harassers rather than the harassed. However, not only is male sexual harassment 'a thing' - it has been legally addressed in countries across the world, and has precedents in several workplaces.

The definition of sexual harassment, as per the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is "Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature" at the workplace. See? Completely gender neutral! In fact, in most countries, the definition is applicable to both sexes and falls under two categories for men - female-on-male harassment and male-on-male harassment.

The first ever reported case of male sexual harassment was in the United States in 1995, when a female supervisor at Dominoes pinched the male manager's butt. The EEOC sued the outfit and the manager was paid $237,000 in damages.

However, in India, where the Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill was passed only in 2012, the provisions were restricted to women and their modesty. Is this because men don't get molested in Indian workplaces? Nope, because as it turns out, men do get sexually harassed in India... a lot!

Judging from the findings of a recent Economic Times-Synovate survey, the men need to be incorporated in that bill ASAP. Of the 527 people queried across seven cities - Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune - 19% said they have faced some kind of sexual harassment at office. In Bangalore, 51% of the respondents had been sexually harassed, while in Delhi and Hyderabad, 31% and 28% of those surveyed said they had been sexually harassed. Around 38% of the respondents across 7 cities in India said that in today's workplaces, "men are as vulnerable to sexual harassment as women."

The biggest reason why these cases were never reported was "social ridicule" and because they felt they wouldn't be believed due to India's social beliefs. 

During 2009, 16% of all sexual harassment cases were filed by men in the US (and more than 2,200 men filed complaints in 2008).

According to a 2006 government study in the United Kingdom, two out of five sexual harassment victims in the UK were male, with 8% percent of all sexual harassment complaints to the Equal Opportunities Commission (Britain's EEOC), coming from men.

Two 20-something professionals anonymously reveal to DT why going to work became a "horrible" experience after their respective bosses and colleagues took office flirting to a new level, and in one of the cases, refused to back off even when confronted.

I started working as a trainee accountant with my firm in 2008 and through the years, I've managed to gain the respect of my colleagues and my seniors. Sheena (name changed) joined my firm in 2009 and from the beginning, everyone knew she was the flirtatious type. We all took it in good humour and she was fun to be around at first, but things weren't the same when she started openly flirting with me. It seemed like I had become her target in office, and it was very embarrassing. Once, she spread her legs in front of me and I could see that she was wearing a thong. This happened in my cubicle, and as much as I would like to believe it, it wasn't a mistake. She sat like that for a long time, and kept flirting with me. She would make excuses to take coffee breaks right when I'd have to step out for a smoke.

All of this was fine, up until one day she grabbed my butt. I was speechless. She was fishing for compliments and I told her she was hot, so she replied by saying I was pretty hot myself, and grabbed me from behind. I could only smile at her in embarrassment, but somewhere deep inside, I just wanted to slap her. Being brought up in a household that respects women, I didn't react. I am just looking to out her in front of my other colleagues one day, as I'm sure she will try one of her tricks on me.

I work at a job consultancy firm and Disha (name changed) has been running this little sham of a place since 2010. I've been here since the very beginning; in fact, I was one of the first people to get hired. Disha always leaned towards me as compared to my other colleagues. She would always oversee my mistakes and that made me feel good. I thought it was because I was one of the older people working at the firm.

One day, while working late in office, she made a pass at me and told me she really liked me. I told her I wasn't interested and made it sound good because I didn't want to offend the boss. Her behaviour became a bit cold after that. But only recently, while we were working till late again, she came out of her cabin with her shirt unbuttoned. Throughout the day, she was dressed in that shirt, buttoned up to her neck, and suddenly this! She walked up to me and asked me why she was paying me if I was being mean to her. I felt like a complete misfit in that office. I resigned the next day and I am looking for a job now