Study Shows Changing Nature of Sexual Harassment

August 14, 2009

A study, which was scheduled to be presented at the American Sociological Association’s annual meeting, has shown that female supervisors are far more likely to be the targets of sexual harassment than women in lower-level positions are. In addition, those men who are assumed to be gay or possess feminine qualities are very often targets.

The researchers found that women who were more “economically vulnerable” were often the targets of sexual harassment, when it was first explored as a workplace issue in the 1970s. However, out of the 600 men and women who were surveyed, 46 percent of the women in supervisory roles said that they had experienced sexual harassment, while only 33 percent of those women without leadership positions were victims.

For the purpose of the study, workplace sexual harassment was defined as: offensive material, discussions of sex, staring or leering, invasion of personal space, questions about one’s private life or unwanted touching. The researchers concluded that men were harassing women sexually, not to express sexual desire or to establish relationships, but rather, to assert their dominance and strip women of their power and authority in the workplace.