Two sexual harassment studies reported
Newswise reports: “Males, Adolescents Are Increasingly Victims of Sexual Harassment”
Research . . . in the American Sociological Review describes workplace conditions for men and women who might be vulnerable to sexual harassment. . . . More than ever, sexual harassment victims include men and adolescents as well as women. All women are at some risk of sexual harassment, but males are also likely to be targeted if they seem vulnerable and appear to reject the male stereotype . . . .
[A]ggressors tend to be men who are flaunting their heterosexual masculinity over all forms of femininity. Victims were not just women but also men who had challenged the stereotypical male ideals.
A surprising development . . . centers on adolescents and their workplace experience. Despite the very corporate and adult image of harassment portrayed in movies such as Disclosure, the study found that adolescents do experience sexual harassment but it’s grossly underreported and misunderstood. They found that one of every three women and one of every seven men that took part in their study reported they were sexually harassed by their mid-twenties. Yet, those men and women had never told anyone about their experience prior to the study. . . .
“We gave young adults and adolescents surveys questioning them about sexual harassment and we asked them if they’d ever experienced it in the workplace. . . . Several of them reported that they had experienced harassment. When we followed up with one-on-one interviews, it was remarkable to hear that so many more did not realize certain behaviors such as consistent and unwanted flirting or inappropriate jokes could be considered harassment. To these adolescents — and to many men we interviewed — it was something they shrugged off.
Sexual Harassment as a Gendered Expression of Power [is] available in the current issue of American Sociological Review at http://www.asanet.org/journals/asr. . . . Read more
No surprise about the incidence of teen and male-on-male harassment. But I must say that if the teens didn’t realize it could beconsidered harassment and “just shrugged it off,” legally it would not be harassment, because it was not subjectively offensive enough (at least I would make that argument vigorously if defending a case).
The male-on-male harassment is also no surprise to me. It has been the subject of quite a number of reported cases by now. It is important for employers to incorporate it into theirharassment policies and training.
This study is covered in depth by the Minneapolis Star Tribune (H.J. Cummins) in this story: “Workplace often ugly for young women” [free reg req'd]
At 16, Erin Ceynar worked the counter at a fast food restaurant in a small Minnesota town. Some of the guys at this, her first job, enjoyed sharing the details of their girlfriends’ sexual favors. Her boss drank his coffee from a mug shaped like a woman’s breast.
“I felt creeped out, violated in a way I couldn’t even have described at the time,” said Ceynar, now 30 and a manager at the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota. “But I didn’t say anything. I was thinking of sexual harassment like rape scenes in movies, where people were hiding in the bushes. I knew these people. I even liked them. So, how could I think something was wrong about them?”
It was an ugly introduction to life as a working woman, but it’s the one that greets one in three young Minnesota women in their earliest jobs, according to a new study out of the University of Minnesota. . . . Girls as young as 14 had stories of lewd jokes, suggestive propositions and physical assault. Young men were not exempt . . . .
[S]everal said they haven’t faced the same kind of mistreatment since those early jobs — convinced they’d been particular targets when they were young, vulnerable and too embarrassed to speak up. . . . Read more
The article gives some more vivid examples in typical human-interest-story style.
Certainly in some workplace environments where many young people are employed without close supervision, such as fast food restaurants, there is a heightened risk of sexual harassment. Young women may be targets of older men seeking to exploit their positions of power, as well as their peers simply acting like rude, horny young bucks. Young women may play along, especially with their peers, until things get out of hand.
An employer can’t always prevent such ocurrences. But providing solid, convenient complaint mechanisms, and affirmatively and proactively seeking information even before complaints are lodged, can really pay off in terms of being able to defend any legal claims that may arise. When senior management visits a particular location for other purposes, it makes sense to have some private conversations with employees — male and female — to ask about their work experience, including how their supervisors and peers are treating them. The words ‘sexual harassment’ need not be mentioned, but this would provide an opportunity for them to speak up if there were such an issue.
Science blog reports: “Drinking and gender harassment in workplace linked”
An extra beer or glass of wine during a workday lunch or happy hour may seem harmless. But a new Cornell University study shows that when alcohol consumption in and around the workplace increases, so does the risk of harassment of women by male co-workers.
The study, “Harassing Under the Influence: Male Drinking Norms and Behaviors and the Gender Harassment of Female Coworkers,” points to the dangers of workplace cultures that tolerate drinking and offers sobering lessons to both workers and employers. . . .
The researchers examined the possible links between alcohol use and “gender harassment” — a form of sexual harassment that involves offensive or degrading remarks and actions, usually directed at women by men. . . .
“The survey’s findings . . . suggest that sexual harassment prevention policies may be less effective in work contexts characterized by a strong and permissive drinking culture.”. . .
The study’s findings showed that women were at greater risk of gender harassment when they worked in places where heavy drinking, particularly on the part of their male colleagues, was tolerated. Specifically, the study found a more-than-twofold increase in the incidence of gender harassment experienced by women for every additional alcoholic drink consumed by the men in their work units during or around working hours. . . . Read more
Where in this day and age is drinking during or around working hours tolerated? Just add harassment prevention to the other reasons — like safety and productivity — to take a hard line on this issue. Alcohol may be legal, but it’s still a drug of abuse, and its consumption has no place in the workplace, during working hours, or at times when it may result in on-the-job intoxication. . . . period.
