The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

Paid Worker Role and Health 477

A given behavior also may be more likely

to be labeled harassment if the perpetrator is

male than female. Both women and men assign

harsher penalties for the same behavior if the

perpetrator is male than female (Cummings

& Armenta, 2002). One reason is that males

have a higher status than females, and status

is related to whether a behavior is interpreted

as sexual harassment. A meta-analysis showed

that a behavior was more likely to be labeled

harassment when there was a status differ-

ence between the perpetrator and the target

(d = +.65; Blumenthal, 1998).

However, one study showed that status

has a more complicated relation to percep-

tions of harassment. Although status is asso-

ciated with power, which leads to a behavior

being interpreted as harassment, status is

especially in college students, is the Sexual

Experiences Survey (Fitzgerald et al., 1995;

Fitzgerald, Shullman et al., 1988). Sample

items are shown in Table 12.4.

Women and men differ in their defini-

tions of sexual harassment. Women are more

likely than men to label the same behavior

as harassment, according to a meta-analytic

review of 62 studies (Rotundo, Nguyen, &

Sackett, 2001). Sex differences in percep-

tion were larger for hostile environment

harassment than quid pro quo harassment.

Differences between women’s and men’s in-

terpretations of a behavior are most likely to

emerge for more ambiguous behaviors, such

as staring or sexist remarks. Women and

men clearly agree that a sexual proposition is

sexual harassment. Men are more likely than

women to endorse the different domains of

sexual harassment myths shown in Table 12.5

(Lonsway, Cortina, & Magley, 2008). Men

who endorse these myths have more hostile

attitudes toward women.

Perceptions of sexual harassment also

vary by culture. In a cross-cultural study of

college students, those from individualistic

cultures (e.g., United States, Germany) were

more likely to perceive a behavior as sexual

harassment, to assign more responsibility to

the perpetrator, and to assign less responsibil-

ity to the victim than those from collectivist

cultures (e.g., India, Taiwan; Sigal et al., 2005).

TABLE 12.4 SAMPLE ITEMS FROM THE SEXUAL

EXPERIENCES QUESTIONNAIRE

Gender harassment Crude sexist remarks

Seductive behavior Propositions

Sexual bribery Direct offers of reward

Sexual coercion Direct threats

Sexual imposition Unwanted attempts to

touch or fondle

Source: Fitzgerald et al. (1988).

TABLE 12.5 SEXUAL HARASSMENT MYTHS

Fabrication/Exaggeration:

• Women often file frivolous charges of sexual
  harassment.


• Women who wait weeks or months to
  report sexual harassment are probably just
  making it up.
  Ulterior Motives:


• Sometimes, women make up allegations of
  sexual harassment to extort money from
  their employers.


• Women sometimes file charges of sexual
  harassment for no apparent reason.
  Natural Heterosexuality:


• Most women are flattered when they get
  sexual attention from men with whom they
  work.


• It’s inevitable that men will “hit on”
  women.
  Woman’s Responsibility:


• Women can usually stop unwanted sexual
  attention by simply telling their supervisors
  about it.


• Nearly all instances of sexual harassment
  would end if the woman simply told the
  man to stop.

M12_HELG0185_04_SE_C12.indd 477 6/21/11 9:16 AM