Same-sex harassment: implications of the Oncale decision for forensic evaluation of plaintiffs

The US Supreme Court recently rendered an opinion in Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc. (1998), holding that same-sex sexual harassment of a male by another male provides a basis for a title VII hostile work environment claim. Social scientists have recently begun to research same-sex sexual harassment. The data indicate that men are the predominant targets of intra-gender sexual harassment, and that patterns of same-sex harassment differ from those of inter-gender harassment. The clinical research on male victims of sexual abuse suggests that symptom pictures for same-sex victims may differ from models based upon women's experience of hostile work environments. Implications for social science research and clinical practice are discussed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.