What is What is No?
What is No? is a real time, face to face exercise that involves the participants in lively discussions about sexual harassment issues. Unlike our other experiences, this exercise is modular. It may take place in one 50 minute period or several modules may be put together to create a longer experience.
Who is What is No? for?
This program is for school administrators, teachers, student leaders, dormitory assistants and anyone else who wants the people they work with to understand how and why sexual harassment takes place and to develop ways of preventing it.
What is the primary purpose of What is No?
The primary goal of What is No? is to create a culture where sexual harassment is not tolerated? A culture in which people are encouraged to positively value and respect each other and remove the negativity that fosters harassment problems?
What happens in What Is No?
In What is No? participants are divided into groups of 3 to 5 persons. Each person reads a case history involving alleged sexual harassment. In a 5 person group, 2 or 3 persons read the incident from the alleged perpetrator's point of view and 2 or 3 read the same incident from the alleged victim's point of view. Then each person in the group answers a series of questions in which the participant is asked to decide whether sexual harassment actually occurred as described in his or her version of the incident. They answer these questions without any input from the others in the group. Then the group as a whole tries to reach a consensus on the same questions. This is not an easy task as the participants often have strong opinions about what is right and wrong in the scenario. In the second part of the exercise, the situation evolves and the group must decide how to prevent it or what to do about it.
What is unique about What is No?
Most programs on sexual harassment present a list of do's and don'ts and back up the message with horror examples of jury awards, lost jobs and destroyed lives. Most of the participants listen passively and say to themselves, “I would never do that.” And most of them are correct because the examples that are presented are often so blatant that most participants can't relate to them. It is the assumption of What Is No? that the more pervasive type of sexual harassment is more subtle than the gross violations that get to court. The cause of this type of harassment is often miscommunication, different interpretation of a person's motives and insensitivity to the impact that one's behavior has on another. It is this subtler type of sexual harassment that What Is No? helps the participants understand and thus prevent.
But what really sets What Is No? apart from most presentations of sexual harassment issues is the involvement of the participants. They don't sit back and passively take in information. As one person who uses the program on a regular basis reported, “90% of the talking was done by the participants, not me”
What results can I expect from What Is No?
• 
It will help you create a work or classroom culture that thrives on mutual respect.
• It will help the participants:
- Gain sensitivity to issues that are troublesome for the other gender;
- Gain awareness of why harassment is such a complicated problem;
- Practice communication skills that address emotionally volatile issues;
- Become aware of what constitutes harassment and how to prevent it.
What does What is No? include?
What is No? has two components. The director's guide contains complete instructions for conducting the exercise plus discussion and reference material, analysis, suggestions, and guidelines for preventing sexual harassment in the work place.
Each participant workbook is unique and reusable. They are sold in sets of five. Each one has fifteen pre-sorted case studies that capture the essence of different types of sexual harassment. Each participant will be evaluating the behavior of the alleged victim and the alleged perpetrator portrayed in the case studies.
How many can participate in What Is No?
We recommend that you have at least 20 participants (4 sets of 5), however, it can be run with as few as 5 participants with almost no dilution of power. Large numbers can be accommodated with the addition of facilitators for the discussion.
How much time does What Is No? take?
With this flexible format, you can easily provide one hour or one day of awareness training. The case studies are clearly divided. You can explore the situation that is closest to your own or discuss several over a period of time. We recommend at least one hour per case study.
What Is No? 
