Gender Harassment Broadening Our Understanding of Sex-Based Harassment at Work

• Published in: Law and human behavior Vol. 35; no. 1; pp. 25 - 39
• Main Authors: Leskinen, Emily A, Cortina, Lilia M, Kabat, Dana B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer 01.02.2011; Springer Science+Business Media; Springer US; American Psychological Law Society
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Analysis; Attorneys; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Bribery; Coercion; Community and Environmental Psychology; Cooperation; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Employees; Employment; Federal court decisions; Female; Female employees; Females; Gender; Gender discrimination; Harassment; Hostility; Human; Humans; Jargon; Law; Law and Psychology; Law enforcement; Legal Personnel; Legal Profession; Male; Middle Aged; Military Personnel; Original Article; Personality and Social Psychology; Psychology; Sex; Sex discrimination; Sexism; Sexual behavior; Sexual Harassment; Sexual Harassment - classification; Sexual Harassment - legislation & jurisprudence; Sexual Harassment - psychology; Social sciences; Studies; Surveys and Questionnaires; Victimization; Victims; Well Being; Wellbeing; Women; Women, Working; Work environment; Working Conditions; Working Women; Workplace; Workplaces; Young Adult; Well-being; Sexual harassment; Gender harassment; Working women
• ISSN: 0147-7307; 1573-661X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10979-010-9241-5

This study challenges the common legal and organizational practice of privileging sexual advance forms of sex-based harassment, while neglecting gender harassment. Survey data came from women working in two male-dominated contexts: the military and the legal profession. Their responses to the Sexual Experiences Questionnaire (SEQ) revealed five typical profiles of harassment: low victimization, gender harassment, gender harassment with unwanted sexual attention, moderate victimization, and high victimization. The vast majority of harassment victims fell into one of the first two groups, which described virtually no unwanted sexual advances. When compared to non-victims, gender-harassed women showed significant decrements in professional and psychological well-being. These findings underscore the seriousness of gender harassment, which merits greater attention by both law and social science.