Skip to main content
Log in

Women's perceptions and labeling of sexual harassment

  • Published:
Sex Roles Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study explored women's perceptions of videotaped portrayals of sexual harassment. Ninety female undergraduates viewed a video of a male teaching assistant evaluating a female undergraduate's term paper. Videos contained either no, subtle, or explicit sexual harassment. Following the videos, subjects completed measures of perceptions of the teaching assistant. Results indicated that women perceived sexual harassment in the videos that contained it, but most did not explicitly label the behavior as sexual harassment until they were cued to do so.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bond, M. A. (1988). Division 27 Sexual Harassment Survey: Definition, impact, and environmental context. The Community Psychologist, 21, 7–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cammaert, L. P. (1985). How widespread is sexual harassment on campus? International Journal of Women's Studies, 8, 388–397.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, A. G., & Gutek, B. (1985). Dimensions of perceptions of social-sexual behavior in a work setting. Sex Roles, 13, 317–327.

    Google Scholar 

  • DiVasto, P. V., Kaufman, A., Rosner, L., Jackson, R., Christy, J., Pearson, S., & Burgett, T. (1984). The prevalence of sexually stressful events among females in the general population. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 13, 59–67.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fitzgerald, L. F., Shullman, S. L., Bailey, N., Richards, M., Swecker, J., Gold, Y., Ormerod, M., & Weitzman, L. (1988). The incidence and dimensions of sexual harassment in academia and the workplace. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 32, 152–175.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gutek, B. A., Morasch, B., & Cohen, A. G. (1983). Interpreting social-sexual behavior in a work setting. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 22, 30–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunter College Women's Career Development Research Collective. (1988, March). Women's attitudes and attributions about sexual and gender harassment. Symposium conducted at the Association for Women in Psychology Conference, Bethesda, MD.

  • Jensen, I. W., & Gutek, B. (1982). Attributions and assignment of responsibility in sexual harassment. Journal of Social Issues, 38, 121–136.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maypole, D. E. (1986). Sexual harassment of social workers at work: Injustice within? Social Work, 31, 29–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Padgitt, S. C., & Padgitt, J. S. (1986). Cognitive structure of sexual harassment: Implications for university policy. Journal of College Student Personnel, 27, 34–39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Powell, G. N. (1986). Effects of sex role identity and sex on definitions of sexual harassment. Sex Roles, 14, 9–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • United States Merit Systems Protection Board. (1981). Sexual harassment in the workplace: Is it a Problem? Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Jaschik, M.L., Fretz, B.R. Women's perceptions and labeling of sexual harassment. Sex Roles 25, 19–23 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00289313

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00289313

Keywords

Navigation