Did I commit sexual harassment by asking a spam caller when they would sleep with me, to stop the calls?

Question

My friend used to complain that he gets phone calls from credit card companies many times (about 1-2 times per day). I had noticed the same, we would be chilling and he would get such calls and it was pretty irritating. They would change their phone numbers so frequently that blocking the numbers was useless.

One day when we were watching a movie such a call comes and he gets furious. I tell him that I will handle it and I take the phone. I talk to the credit card selling woman for some time asking things I am not at all interested in and then I state that sure I will take it, but when will you sleep with me. She thought she probably misheard and asked me that she didn't get me the last time and I repeated the exact same thing again to her. She paused for around 10 secs and then disconnected it herself and my friend never ever got a phone call from those credit card companies again.

However as I was narrating my story to another friend, I was informed that this probably constitutes sexual harassment. Even though it has been months since the incident, I am a bit concerned. Did I actually do something illegal?

Answer 1

Did I commit sexual harassment unknowingly?

No. That falls short of harassment (sexual or otherwise).

Statutory definitions of harassment typically require a course of action, that is, a plurality of acts. The second time you said it to the agent does not count as plurality because she explicitly asked you to repeat your statement. In some jurisdictions a single act can be cognizable as sexual harassment if the act was egregious (see art. 222-33.II of the French civil code, requiring repetition or plurality of acts absent "toute forme de pression grave"). However, what you describe is a joke that clearly falls short of egregious.

Another reason why this cannot constitute harassment is that obviously the agent is entirely unknown to you and unidentifiable by you. The agent cannot reasonably become concerned for her safety in a context where she basically acts incognito. Nor would it be reasonable for her to allege that the matter annoyed her (that is, for purposes of the statutory definition of harassment) because she was the one who resumed the pattern of unsolicited contacts that understandably irritate you and your friend.

Answer 2

The legal answer is that it depends on where in the world you are. In the US, "sexual harassment" is legally subsumed under laws against illegal discrimination, which can exist at the federal level and the state level. You cannot discriminate on the basis of race for employment, housing, public accomodations and so on. You cannot discriminate on the basis of sex in employment. However, you are not employing anyone, so that law does not apply to you. In general, being a customer or potential customer, or a person in possession of a phone, is not a federally-regulated activity.

The First Amendment to the US Constitution protects your right to expression, regardless of whether they may be found to be offensive. It is legal in the US to be rude.