Final answer:
Sexual harassment often involves unwelcome behavior based on gender, though it can include elements related to race and religion as well. It violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and becomes unlawful when impacting employment or creating a hostile work environment, and is not exclusively based on age, with the exception of intersecting gender-related issues.
Step-by-step explanation:
Sexual harassment is unwelcome or unwanted behavior that can be based on several criteria including gender, which is most commonly associated with it. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) defines sexual harassment to include unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. These behaviors become unlawful when they affect an individual's employment, unreasonably interfere with a person's work performance or create an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment. Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, discrimination, including sexual harassment, in employment on the basis of race, gender, national origin, and religion is prohibited. However, while sexual harassment is significantly tied to gender, it does not exclusively rely on gender alone, and behaviors based on race and religion can also constitute harassment if they create a hostile working environment or have an impact on employment status. Age, specifically as protected under laws against discrimination for individuals who are 40 years of age or older, can also be a basis for harassment but typically not categorized under sexual harassment unless it interconnects with gender-based discrimination.
Therefore, sexual harassment is unwelcome or unwanted behavior based on gender and potentially on other characteristics such as race and religion, depending on the context, but not exclusively on age. An understanding of these nuanced differences is vital when evaluating instances of harassment in the workplace or educational settings.