NCJ Number
164429
Date Published
1995
Length
14 pages
Annotation
After examining the legal and empirical definitions of sexual harassment, this paper considers how they apply to both the workplace and an academic setting; also included are discussions of the incidence of sexual harassment in academia, as well as the status of responsive action.
Abstract
There are two types of definitions of sexual harassment. The first is the legal definition, spelled out by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. It covers both quid pro quo harassment, where a superior demands sexual favors from an employee in exchange for continued employment or benefits, as well as hostile-environment harassment, where one employee poisons the work atmosphere of another with sexual or gender- specific comments. The second definition of sexual harassment is empirical. It includes five levels of sexual harassment: generalized sexist remarks; inappropriate and offensive, but essentially sanction-free sexual advances; solicitation of sexual activity or other sex-linked activity by promise of reward; coercion of sexual activity by threat of punishment; and sexual crimes and misdemeanors. These definitions apply both to the workplace and to academia. Data show that the incidence of sexual harassment in U.S. schools and businesses is widespread, with one study (Dziech and Weiner, 1984) reporting that 30 percent of all undergraduate women have been sexually harassed by at least one of their instructors during their college careers. Research has shown that women are more likely to be the recipients of sexual harassment than men. In nearly all cases, the perpetrators are men. Because both harassers and the harassed usually fail to identify the abuse as sexual harassment, most incidents go unreported, even when a mechanism for redress exists. Any effort to reduce the incidence of sexual harassment in campus environments, therefore, must begin with an intensive educational campaign about what constitutes such harassment. 51 references