Sexual harassment at a Spanish public university: an examination of victims’ experiences by gender and campus status

Abstract

The current study analyses the prevalence of sexual harassment among staff and undergraduate students at a Spanish public university. The EASIS-U, a 38-item questionnaire, was administered to a sample of 1,521 university students, and 172 staff members. Results show that 26.4% of teaching and research staff (TRS), 28.3% of administrative staff (AS), and 15.9% of the students had experienced at least one episode of sexual blackmail behaviour; 30.9% of TRS, 27.0% of AS and 16.0% of the students had experienced at least one episode of physical sexual harassment; and 23.7% of TRS, 34.4% of AS and 17.1% of the students had experienced at least one episode of verbal sexual harassment. A comparison of staff and students revealed significant differences in prevalence rates, with staff reporting higher rates of unwanted contact than students. Contrary to expectations, male students reported more sexual harassment than did female students. We analyse the possible reasons for these results.