Is all sexual harassment viewed the same? Mock juror decisions in same- and cross-gender cases

Given recent court decisions, there is a need to investigate less common forms of sexual harassment, including women harassing men and same-gender harassment. The present study was a 2 (harasser gender) x 2 (target gender) x 2 (participant gender) factorial design in which 408 mock jurors made decisions in a hostile work environment case. Women harassing men were more likely to be found guilty than were men harassing women, and harassers in same-gender cases were more likely to be found guilty and were perceived more negatively than harassers in cross-gender cases. Participant gender differences were found in cross-gender, but not same-gender, conditions. Results suggest that the gender composition of the harasser and target may be an extralegal factor influencing managerial and juror decision making.     

Stranger Danger: The Role of Perpetrator and Context in Moderating Reactions to Sexual Harassment

The majority of research on sexual harassment focuses on achievement contexts where the perpetrator of the harassment is known to the victim. More recent work has begun to explore sexual harassment perpetrated by strangers in public places. The current work sought to bridge the gap between research on sexual harassment in achievement contexts and stranger harassment. In doing so, the current work manipulated factors related to three important distinctions between these topics: the relationship between the perpetrator and victim, the location, and the type of sexually harassing behavior. The current study provides evidence that stranger harassment elicits more negative reactions than harassment from a coworker. Additionally, harasser type interacted with harassment type, with situations involving strangers making physical contact eliciting the most negative reactions. Thus, the current work suggests a need for more research on stranger harassment, as well as on additional factors that may operate differently depending on harasser type.     

Simple and Joint Effects of Gender and Self-Esteem on Responses to Same-Sex Sexual Harassment

In a sample of 431 white-collar professionals, we examined the impact of gender and self-esteem on individuals' intentions to seek legal counsel, confront the harasser, and make formal reports within the organization in response to approach-based same-sex sexual harassment. We hypothesized that gender, self-esteem, and their interaction would be related to assertive responses. All three hypotheses received support: men were more likely than women to respond assertively; self-esteem was positively related to response intentions; and self-esteem had a greater impact on men's responses than on women's responses. These results suggest that frameworks used to describe responses to cross-sex sexual harassment may not be adequate for same-sex sexual harassment. Post hoc analyses revealed that perceiving the behavior as harassment mediated the relationship between self-esteem and the responses to harassment, but did not mediate the relationships between gender and the responses to harassment. These findings contribute to the research on acknowledging sexual harassment.     

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: Exploring the Effects of Attractiveness on Perception of Harassment

This study was designed to explore the effect of attractiveness on perceptions of sexual harassment. Male and female college students (N = 150) rated four scenarios depicting ambiguous incidents of sexual harassment, each paired with photos of a male boss and a female secretary. Male and female attractiveness was varied in a 2 × 2 factorial design. Participants were asked to rate each photo on a series of traits before making harassment judgments. Overall, females perceived more harassment. The behavior of attractive males was less likely to be seen as harassing. Attractive females were more likely to be seen as harassed, especially when the potential harasser was unattractive. The possible mechanisms underlying the effects of attractiveness were explored with the results supporting a direct effect of stereotypes over a mediating role for implicit personality theories.     

Considering her circumstances: how ethnicity and cultural relativist arguments affect sexual harassment judgments by undergraduate and community mock jurors

Most research on sexual harassment has involved undergraduate students and European Americans, whose perspectives may not be representative of the broader population. This study investigated whether judgments of a sexual harassment trial vary by plaintiff ethnicity (European American or Latin American), type of sample (undergraduates or community members) and mock juror ethnicity (European American or Latin American). We also tested the effects of a cultural relativist argument about Latin American cultural values influencing the plaintiff. Results indicated that community and Latin American mock jurors rendered more pro-plaintiff verdicts, particularly when the case did not include a cultural relativist argument. Although the cultural relativist argument did not affect undergraduates' judgments, it caused a backlash among community members, leading to more pro-defendant verdicts. Judgments across type of sample and mock juror ethnicity were partially mediated by self-referencing and hostile sexism; affiliation with Latin American culture also predicted judgments of the Latina American plaintiff.     

PREDICTORS OF RESPONSES TO UNWANTED SEXUAL ATTENTION

Data were collected from 4,011 male and female university students, faculty, and staff regarding responses to unwanted sexual attention. Women and undergraduate students reported the highest incidence of unwanted sexual attention; most harassers were peers. Ignoring the behavior was the most common response, followed by avoiding the harasser and talking to others about the harassment. Harassment severity was the strongest predictor of responses, with more direct responses being made to more severe harassment. Bivariate correlational analyses suggested that unwanted sexual attention was rated as more distressing by women than by men, by faculty/staff than by students, by individuals with less tolerant attitudes toward harassment, and when the harasser was in a position of authority or when the harassment was of longer duration. In path analyses, only the relations between attitudes and responses were mediated by differences in perceived severity. The gender and status (i.e., student vs. faculty/staff) of the harassee, the duration of the harassment, and whether the harasser was in a position of authority had direct effects on responses not attributable to perceived severity. Implications for policy and future research are discussed.     

An overview of the literature on sexual harassment: Perpetrator,theory, and treatment issues

Sexual harassment has been recognized as a serious problem in the literature over the past 30 years. In this paper, we review the existing research surrounding the phenomenon of sexual harassment, paying particular attention to factors of relevance for understanding perpetrators of sexual harassment. We also provide an overview of the perplexing nature of sexual harassment and the various concerns that have surrounded the topic leading to its recognition. The different theoretical perspectives and models of sexual harassment (sociocultural, organizational, sex-role spillover, natural/biological, socio-cognitive, and four-factor) are also considered and reviewed. Finally, lack of empirical evidence and focus on assessment and treatment for harassers is recognized in this paper, and several suggestions are made for future research and treatment avenues relating to the sexual harasser.     

Situational and Individual Influences on Judgments of Hostile Environment Sexual Harassment1

The current research examines the judgment processes of third-party evaluators of sexual harassment situations. Four situational variables were hypothesized to influence ratings of situation appropriateness and judgments of sexual harassment. The evaluator's gender and personality also were hypothesized to influence both ratings. Participants were 73 male and 51 female undergraduate students. Results indicated that behavior severity and victim response significantly influenced ratings. The frequency of the behavior influenced appropriateness ratings, but interacted with behavior severity for harassment judgments. The effects of the gender of the evaluator were mediated by the evaluator's level of tolerance for harassment. The effects of the power relationship and rater personality were not significant.     

Effects of gender and situation on the perception of sexual harassment

This study addressed three sources of variability in the perception of sexual harassment: the gender of the observer, the gender combination of the harasser and victim, and the role relationship between the harasser and victim. College students (N = 197), approximately 80% of whom were Caucasian, single, and in their early 20s, were randomly divided into two groups. In one group, the harasser was a man and the victim was a woman. In the other group, the harasser was a woman and the victim was a man. Participants rated the degree to which they thought sexual harassment occurred in 20 hypothetical interactions in each of three situations using a 7-point sexual harassment scale. Men and women rated the situations alike as long as the harasser was a man and the victim was a woman. When the perpetrator was a woman and the victim was a man, men gave significantly lower ratings than women. In contrast, women's ratings were the same regardless of the gender of the harasser. Harassment ratings also varied as a function of the power differential between the harasser and victim. The more egalitarian the relationship, the less likely participants were to perceive the behavior as sexually harassing.     

Moderating effects of harasser status and target gender on the relationship between unwanted sexual attention and overall job satisfaction

Despite a vast body of literature evidencing the negative effects of workplace sexual harassment it remains unclear whether sexual harassment experienced by the target is worse when the harasser is a supervisor, rather than a coworker. With a scenario‐based experimental study we examined whether targets harassed by their supervisor would experience greater decreases in overall job satisfaction than those targeted by a coworker. Results suggested that harasser status moderated the effects of sexual harassment on overall job satisfaction but only for female targets. Further, the effect of supervisor harassment on job satisfaction was mediated by interpersonal justice perceptions.     

Sexual Harassers: Behaviors, Motives, and Change Over Time

This research was designed to examine the characteristics of sexual harasser behaviors in 118 published arbitration decisions. A qualitative coding process was used to describe behaviors in terms of their severity, type, duration, and frequency. The interrelationships between these characteristics were examined along with the individual’s record of discipline and past aggression. The results indicate that harassers tended to repeat the same types of behavior, and that severity generally increased over time. Although past discipline for sexual harassment appeared to reduce this escalation, it was not very effective in stopping the behaviors. Perpetrators who had engaged in gender harassment were more likely to have a record of aggressive behaviors. Additional comparisons indicate important differences in the behavior of perpetrators as categorized by type of behavior.     

Improving Managerial Effectiveness in the Workplace: The Case of Sexual Harassment of Navy Women1

A decision-making model is used to test causal relationships between a set of constructs thought to be important in understanding the organizational effects of sexual harassment. The model explores the causal linkages between women Navy personnel perceptions of the organization's climate regarding sexual harassment, experiences, and judgments of inappropriate sexual behaviors, and resulting decisions ultimately affecting the organization. The findings advance our understanding of important causal variables in preventing sexual harassment, along with providing managers an early warning or screening device to aid in moderating this contemporary workplace issue.     

Sexual Harassment: A Female Counseling Student's Experience

A counseling student describes her experience as a target of long-term, systematic harassment in the form of sexual seduction. The harassing professor was the student's practicum supervisor. The author recounts the effects of experiencing the harassment, confronting her harasser, and enduring an investigation. The events of the case demonstrate that sexualization of the professor-student relationship has a powerful potential to destroy trust, a fundamental element in the student's future profession. They also demonstrate that taking action can empower a student to resolve the experience for herself, gain strength from her actions, and move forward with her life.     

Sex and power in the academy: modeling sexual harassment in the lives of college women

The authors build an integrated model of the process by which academic sexual harassment undermines women's well-being; also examined is harasser power as a potential moderator of this process. Data from 1,455 college women suggest that sexual harassment experiences are associated with increased psychological distress, which then relates to lower academic satisfaction, greater physical illness, and greater disordered eating. The cumulative effect is greater disengagement from the academic environment, which in turn relates to performance decline (i.e., lower grades). Regardless of how frequently the harassment occurred, academic satisfaction was lower when the harassment came from higher-status individuals (i.e., faculty, staff, or administrators). At the same time, harassment was equally detrimental to mental health, regardless of who perpetrated it. The article concludes with implications for theory, research, and intervention.     

Interpretations of sexual harassment: An attributional analysis

Two studies were conducted to examine an attributional model of judgments of sexual harassment. The key assumption of the model is that judgments of sexual harassment involve the attribution of negative intentions (e.g., hostility or callousness) to an actor with regard to a sexual behavior. The two studies effectively demonstrated that many factors known to influence the attribution of intentionality play an important role in judgments of sexual harassment. The findings are discussed with regard to understanding how people differ in their judgments of sexual harassment.The studies described in this article were reported in a presentation at the 1986 meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association in Chicago.     

Prior Allegations of Harassment Impact Mock Jurors’ Perceptions of Sexual Harassment in a Criminal Trial

The current study examined factors that may influence jurors’ judgments in a criminal sexual harassment case with Canadian undergraduate students. Undergraduate students (n?=?268) examined whether defendant’s gender, victim’s gender, and whether the victim had made similar accusations in the past were influential in mock jurors’ judgments. Participants read a case summary describing an alleged sexual harassment and answered questions concerning defendant’s guilt, defendant’s culpability, and perceptions of the victim. Additionally, attitudes concerning sexual harassment and sexism were measured. The presence of prior allegations was a driving force in mock juror decisions, with mock jurors providing more guilty verdicts, more favorable perceptions of the victim, and less favorable perceptions of the defendant when no prior allegations of harassment had been made by the victim. The results of the current study suggest that the presence of prior allegations have a large impact on mock jurors’ decisions, suggesting that prior allegations may need to be considered more closely in court before they can be used as evidence.

     

A Model of Racialized Sexual Harassment of Women in the UK Workplace

This paper examines Black Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) women’s experiences of sexual harassment in the UK workplace from the perspective of frequency and types of sexual harassment and characteristics of the harasser; ethnic and cultural influences; power, fear of reprisals, and reporting behavior. Using a snowballing technique, in depth interviews with 17 BAME women who had experienced or witnessed BAME sexual harassment reported that they were frequently sexually harassed by men from the same ethnic background. The fear of job loss, reprisals from male family members and negative organizational consequences resulted in over three quarters of the women not reporting incidents. Key questions regarding the factors and influences that are inherent in racialized sexual harassment are integrated into a model.     

Perceptions of sexual harassment in an academic context

This study assessed the influence of two subject variables, gender and gender role, and one contextual variable, power of the harasser, on perceptions of sexual harassment in an academic context. Fifty-one white males and 73 white females evaluated a series of vignettes depicting a range of behavioral interactions. When the harasser was a higher power individual, vignettes were more likely to be viewed as examples of sexual harassment, male characters were perceived more negatively, and female characters were perceived more favorably. Female respondents rated the male characters less favorably than did the male respondents, although there were no gender differences in the number of vignettes interpreted as sexual harassment. Subtle differences in the way males and females interpret harassment behaviors are examined and discussed.Portions of this paper were presented at the meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Boston, Massachusetts, April 1992.