NCJ Number
164427
Date Published
1995
Length
3 pages
Annotation
According to the "reasonable woman" standard, if a reasonable woman defines a given situation as sexual harassment, then it is legally sexual harassment.
Abstract
Men typically are concerned about what appears to them as the ambiguity and relativity of what women deem to be sexual harassment. This issue of what is sexual harassment is being resolved under an emerging standard by which the courts can judge sexual harassment cases, and by which the general public can judge them as well. It is called "the reasonable woman standard." In determining whether or not behavior toward a woman constitutes sexual harassment, this standard examines how a "reasonable woman" would interpret the behavior and how a "reasonable woman" would react to the behavior. Note that the standard does not state a "reasonable person." In specifying "woman," the standard acknowledges that in matters of sexual behavior women and men may have different perceptions of what is objectionable and harassing. Men on a jury in a sexual harassment case must therefore exercise the crucial ingredient of empathy; that is, they must put themselves in the place of the woman and attempt to experience how they would feel in such a situation if they were the alleged victim. It is possible for "reasonable men" to understand how a "reasonable woman" would feel in a given situation.