Sexual Harassment Sensitivity and Gender: Clarifying the Differences

The traditional view of sexual harassment sensitivity is that in certain cir­ cumstances, social-sexual behaviors are viewed as sexual harassment by women, but not so by men. The findings of the research reported here suggest a dichotomy that may revise this point of view. On an intellectual level, social-sexual behaviors are seen as sexual harassment by both men and women in certain circumstances. However, on an emotional level, the appro­ priate organizational punishment for social-sexual behaviors viewed as sexual harassment are drawn along gender lines to the extent that women may deal more severely with sexual harassment offenders than do men. Sexual harassment and its recognition have been the subject of ongoing discussion in recent years, and much of the discussion has centered on differences in inter­ pretation of exactly what constitutes sexual harassment. In this research, w e use 1980, the date when the Equal Employment Opportunity Commiss ion (EEOC) Guidelines on Sexual Harassment were enacted [1] as a key date in considering the issues. In the years since, many men were first confronted with the idea of sexual harassment from a victim's perspective and with the concept of a hostile environment. It is possible that prior to this period, men and w o m e n may, in fact, have had very different experiences regarding sexual harassment and have held differing perceptions about some of the issues. A critical question, however, is what has happened in the period since 1980. 289 © 1997, Baywood Publishing Co., Inc. doi: 10.2190/562H-WL1H-A9Q6-65GG http://baywood.com 290 / FOK, HARTMAN AND CROW In this research, w e are concerned with drawing a distinction between how men and women understand issues of sexual harassment on a intellectual level and their underlying emotional responses to it. W e contend there may be very little difference in the way men and women understand sexual harassment. But the operative word is understand. Understanding sexual harassment on an intellectual level may be one thing, while feelings, visceral reactions, and the way w e respond to and act upon situations of sexual harassment may be another thing entirely. Generally speaking, some individuals may understand sexual harassment on a cognitive level, yet experience no emotions about it, while others may understand sexual harassment intellectually and also respond to it viscerally. TREATMENT OF THE ISSUES IN RECENT YEARS Since 1980, sexual harassment issues have been highly publicized. There has been abundant opportunity for the way men and women think about sexual harassment to have been altered by a continuing high level of discussion of the issues in the media, through the widespread use of educational and training activities in the workplace and in educational institutions, and by feminist activities and the highly publicized sexual harassment cases since 1980. Conse­ quently, it is possible that one of the net effects of sexual harassment as a major workplace issue in the 1980s and 1990s has been the education of employees to a broader understanding of sexual harassment—that sexual harassment is more than overt sexual aggression.