Who perceives sexual harassment? Sex differences and the impact of mate value, sex of perpetrator, and sex of target

Abstract

The #MeToo movement has drawn attention to sexual harassment in the workplace. Using an adaptationist approach, two studies were designed to investigate sex differences in perceptions of a sexually ambiguous comment and individual differences that may explain variation in those perceptions. Study 1 (n = 179) was a within-subjects study to investigate whether there is a sex difference in perceptions of sexual harassment and whether sex of speaker/target influences these perceptions. We found women were more likely than men to perceive the comment as sexual harassment when the speaker was a woman. However, for men and women, the comment was more likely to be perceived as sexual harassment, insulting, intentional, and less funny when the speaker was a man and the target was a woman. Study 2 (n = 742) was a between-subject study examining the effect of individual differences on perceptions of sexual harassment. We found, beyond sex differences and sex of speaker/target, one's own self-perceived mate value predicted perceptions of sexual harassment while sociosexuality did not. These findings suggest men and women perceive sexually ambiguous situations differently and that sex of the perpetrator/target as well as one's own mate value influences those perceptions.