A Feminist Critique of the Sexual Dysfunction Nomenclature

No abstract available for this article.     

Sexual Harassment Mythology: Definition, Conceptualization, and Measurement

Using rape myth research as a template, we developed a conceptual definition and measurement instrument for the mythology regarding male sexual harassment of women, resulting in the 20-item Illinois Sexual Harassment Myth Acceptance (ISHMA) Scale. Surveys from 337 students in the Midwestern region of the United States revealed that this measure consists of four factors, which share predicted relationships with rape mythology, sexism, hostility toward women, traditional attitudes toward women, and ideological support for the feminist movement. We also found that women and individuals with prior training on sexual harassment reject these myths more than men and untrained individuals. It is hoped that this new definition, conceptualization, and measure will advance knowledge on attitudes that support and perpetuate violence against women.     

Postmodernism: A Feminist Critique

In this article the author suggests that progress in philosophy can be conceived through contemporary French theories that propose a new, polysemantic way of thinking. Postmodern philosophy has tried to renew the meaning of the subject, of the subject's identity, and of language and communication. The author believes that the postmodern, feminist approach to those concepts represents significant progress in philosophy. It is, in fact, exactly in the context of feminism—conceived of not just as a women's sociopolitical or scientific activity but as a broad theoretical approach to many areas—that Western philosophy has acquired its most explicit and adequate meaning. A crucial example here is the new historicophilosophical analysis of the concept of gender. The author appeals to Lipovetsky, Lacan, Derrida, Kristeva, and other thinkers to show how postmodern feminism helps to overcome the binary vision of the contemporary world and the dichotomic composition of earlier philosophical thought.     

Self-Labeling Sexual Harassment

This study was designed to examine personal, stimulus, and organizational factors that predict the self-labeling of sexual harassment. Hypotheses were developed based on the social cognitive schema framework, which suggests that the activation of a victim's schema of sexual harassment influences self-labeling incidents as sexual harassment. Results of a secondary analysis of the 1995 Department of Defense Gender Issues dataset generally supported the hypotheses in that self-labeling is a multi-faceted process. Several findings were in the opposite direction from that predicted (e.g., perceptions that the military was implementing sexual harassment policies were negatively associated with self-labeling). Alternative explanations for the complexity of the self-labeling process were also examined. Portions of this article were presented as a poster at the 2000 Association for Women in Psychology conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. Authorship is listed alphabetically, both authors contributed equally to this study.     

A Feminist Critique of the Alleged Southern Debt

Neoliberal globalization has deepened the impoverishment and marginalization of many women. This system is maintained by the debt supposedly owed by many poor nations in the global South to a few rich nations in the global North, because the obligation to service the debt traps the people of the South within an economic order that severely disadvantages them. I offer several reasons for thinking that many of these alleged debt obligations are not morally binding, especially on Southern women.     

Organizational Costs of Sexual Harassment

Working women were surveyed regarding their probable initial reactions to different forms of sexual harassment. Many indicated they would either quit their jobs or report sexual harassment to external authorities. Discusses organizational costs of sexual harassment, ways of preventing such costs, and implications for employment counselors.     

Sexual Harassment: A Problem Shielded by Silence

This article offers an overview of the complex issue of sexual harassment. Definitions, prevalence data, cultural context, barriers to reporting these experiences to appropriate resources, and the effects of sexual harassment on victims are outlined.     

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.     

The Sexual Harassment Coercive Offer

There is disagreement in the coercion literature over whether an offer, which necessarily lacks a threat, could be coercive, which tends to imply at least some affinity with coercion, which, in paradigm cases, includes a threat. In one difficult sexual harassment case, someone is offered a promotion in exchange for sex, but there is, due to the arrangement of the case, no implied threat or repercussion for refusal. I argue this case counts as coercive since the offer‐making attempts to recast the agent's self‐image simply by making the offer: the harasser attempts to define his employee as a sexualized object in the workplace to whom it is acceptable to make this kind of offer. Yet, such an offer can only be acceptably made to a woman who would accept sexual intrusions in her career, and it can never be right to assume others are willing to have their business lives sexualized. Thus, the offer is coercive in its disrespect for the employee's autonomy, although it involves no threat.     

Public Perceptions of Sexual Harassment: An Empirical Analysis in Israel from Consensus and Feminist Theoretical Perspectives

Sexual harassment (SH) includes men as harassers and women as victims. It is defined in many Western countries as a criminal offense. However, the social response to SH may be characterized by clear leniency toward harassers. The present study investigated the roots of such response. Respondents from a large, representative, random, Israeli sample (630) were asked to evaluate hypothetical short crime scenarios, constructed by the factorial-survey approach, representing cases of sexual harassment and other offenses. The study hypothesized that respondents’ perceptions of SH scenarios will be affected significantly by their gender-role attitudes to women. The findings indicate that such criminal acts are perceived as serious by the whole public, challenging the consensual basis of the lenient approach to harassers.     

Spiritualising the Sacred: A Critique of Feminist Theology

This article submits feminist theology to a two-pronged theological critique. First, the article notes the overwhelmingly critical nature of feminist theology, and suggests that this concentration on critique at the expense of construction is itself a weakness of feminist theology. Further, it argues that the feminist critique tends to construe Christianity in a way which distorts the more complex realities of the faith, placing too much emphasis on the textual nature of Christianity. Second, the article argues that feminist attempts to construct new theologies are flawed because of their dependence upon the contentious notion of 'women's experience' and their consequent failure to engage with the traditional resources of theology. The article concludes with the suggestion that much feminist theology is dependent upon an influential post-Christian strand of religiosity, and that it uncritically appropriates the latter's unhelpfully individualistic, monistic and idealist stance.     

The Feminist Critique of Reason Revisited

In this essay I distinguish four different modes of feminist critique of reason. Discussing the work of authors such as Keller, Irigaray, and Butler, I point out that the issue of masculine connotations has been addressed with regard to different concepts—or at least different aspects—of reason. In view of a tendency to overdraw the objections, I suggest to reformulate the feminist critique of reason. I also argue that a rediscovery of those philosophical concepts of reason that do not restrict this term to instrumental rationality might be useful for this purpose.     

Acknowledging Sexual Harassment: A Test of Alternative Models

Few victims of sexual harassment acknowledge that their experience constitutes sexual harassment. In this study, we examined five general models gleaned from the literature on observers' or laypersons' perceptions of sexual harassment to examine their efficacy in explaining victims' acknowledgment processes: type-of-harassing experience; personal characteristics of the target/observer; and affective consequences of the event(s), attributions, and power (status) of the offender. Data were collected in a campus-wide survey of students, faculty, and staff at a large midwestern university (N = 1,147), which measured incidence rates of eight forms of sexual harassment and the situational characteristics of, responses to, and consequences of the most dramatic experience. Results from single-model and multiple-model hierarchical logistic regression analyses partially support each of the models. The following general model emerged: Individuals who experience unwanted sexual attention are more likely than others to acknowledge being sexually harassed if (a) they perceived their experience as part of a larger problem in their environment, (b) they had a strong emotional reaction to it, (c) the perpetrator was a superior, (d) they were sensitive to the issue of sexual harassment (e.g., they were women instead of men). However, differences in this pattern emerged across various subsamples. This research warrants further theoretical development on victimization acknowledgment processes.     

Organizational Resources for Addressing Sexual Harassment

The author acknowledges the difficulties in arriving at a definition of sexual harassment. Employing a definition that has become commonplace, she distinguishes between quid pro quo and hostile environment harassment. The obligations of organizations are outlined and attention is given to the development of appropriate policies and procedures. The effect of the organization's climate on institutional responsiveness to this issue is discussed, and pertinent educational and training interventions are provided.