Abuse of the Power of the Professoriate: Faculty Who Harass and "Consensual Relationships" (From Sexual Harassment on College Campuses: Abusing the Ivory Power, Second Edition, P 75-80, 1996, Michele A Paludi, ed. -- See NCJ-164274)

• NCJ Number: 164280
• Author(s): M A Paludi
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 6 pages
• Sale Source: State University of New York Press
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: SUNY Series, The Psychology of Women

Annotation

Sexual harassers can be found in all types of occupations, at all organizational levels, among business and professional individuals, and among college professors.

Abstract

College professors who harass typically do not label their behavior as sexual harassment, despite the fact that they frequently initiate personal relationships with students. They deny the inherent power difference between themselves and their students, as well as the psychological power conferred by this difference. The man who is likely to initiate severe sexually harassing behavior appears to be one who emphasizes male social and sexual dominance and who is insensitive to other perspectives. Research shows that sexual harassment is part of a larger and more general dimension of misogyny or hostility toward women, expressed in extreme stereotypes of women. Many men sexually harass due to extreme competitiveness, concern with ego, or fear of losing their positions of power. Further, the element of aggression that is so deeply embedded in the masculine gender role is present in sexual harassment. There is a need to change traditional mentor-protege relationships in which women are proteges and men are mentors, particularly on college campuses, in order to minimize power imbalances between male professors and female students. 7 references