NCJ Number
170817
Journal
Law and Human Behavior Volume: 22 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1998) Pages: 59-79
Date Published
1998
Length
21 pages
Annotation
The results of this study show that male-male sexual harassment is far more common than typically assumed by researchers, popular media, or the general public.
Abstract
Research on sexual harassment has recently expanded to include the examination of men's experiences. Such research, however, has ignored the power dynamics involved in sexual harassment and typically assumed exclusively heterosexual situations. This study examined legal cases that illustrate the many forms that male-male harassment may take and the complex array of situations in which such harassment occurs. This study then reports on the frequencies of experiences of harassment in three large samples of working men, as well as the sex of the perpetrators of the harassment. The study then examines men's evaluations of these situations to determine the degree to which they found them to be harassing in a psychological sense. The results show that men experience potentially sexually harassing behaviors from other men at least as often as they do from women; however, men in all samples reported relatively few negative reactions to these experiences. Study data show that the enforcement of the heterosexual male role was rated as the most upsetting to participants, a result that is especially interesting due to statements by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (1993) on what constitutes a harassing situation (i.e., that it is intimidating, hostile, or abusive). Currently, however, victims have little legal redress for such harassment. Study limitation are also discussed. 6 tables, appended scale to measure sexual harassment in the workplace, and 46 references