To be clear: sexual harassment is any form of unwelcome sexual behaviour that’s offensive, humiliating or intimidating. Sexual assault includes forced, unwanted, sexual acts.

Respectfully complimenting someone you know in an appropriate setting is not sexual harassment. Respectfully asking someone out on a date, in the appropriate setting (and taking “no” for an answer, if that’s the response) is not sexual harassment. And being engaged and interested in a conversation, in listening to what someone else has to say, is not sexual harassment.

As Caroline Cranshaw, relationship coach and hypnotherapist, told the NZ Herald: “Humans were born to flirt. Babies flirt. Flirting is just a way of showing approval, that you kind of like somebody or you feel safe with them. Flirting is just enthusiastic self-love that kind of radiates from you, and if you’re in the company of people you approve of, you allow that to overflow to others.”

However, she adds that flirting becomes inappropriate when you objectify a person, or when there is innuendo without mutual attraction.

“If a woman is not responding to you, she doesn’t like you,” said Cranshaw. “It’s very simple. It’s not that we’re playing hard to get, or that we need to be convinced.

“Women are really clear about whether they like someone or not. And if she’s saying she’s not interested, she’s turning away — get the hint.”

Image: Getty

Jeff Goldblum on the difference between being a flirt and being a creep