Coping With Sexual Harassment (From Sexual Harassment on College Campuses: Abusing the Ivory Power, Second Edition, P 199- 213, 1996, Michele A Paludi, ed. -- See NCJ-164274)

• NCJ Number: 164287
• Author(s): V C Rabinowitz
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 15 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

Wherever it occurs, the experience of sexual harassment defines and limits women in sexual and gender-specific terms; when sexual harassment occurs in the academic setting, it is experienced by women as a particularly devastating betrayal of trust.

Abstract

The author addresses the questions of how female student victims of sexual harassment by male professors come to label, accept, and cope with their experiences. She begins by considering how students cognitively appraise sexual harassment by faculty and why there is such deep-seated resistance to acknowledging the fact of their victimization. In addition, the author reviews the literature on the effects of experiencing sexual harassment by faculty. She notes that many women display a constellation of cognitive, behavioral, emotional, and physical symptoms following sexual harassment that may persist long after the sexual harassment ends and even change the course of their lives. A cognitive appraisal of sexual harassment is presented that focuses on the power of professors, self-blame among victims, and rejection of victim status. Student coping strategies are described, including denial and avoidance, and sexual advances in well-established relationships are examined. Implications of research findings on sexual harassment for future research and for advocates, counselors, and educators who seek to help sexual harassment victims become survivors are discussed. 18 references