Experiences Of Sexual Harassment Research Articles

Demographic Determinants of Sexual Harassment in Police Women

The present study aims at exploring the demographic determinants of sexual harassment inPolice Women because this population is repressed and overlooked in exploring the sensitiveissue of sexual harassment with particular reference to Pakistan. It was a cross-sectional researchin which 191 police women personnel (age range = 15-65) were recruited from Gujrat andGujranwala districts. A sexual harassment experience questionnaire was used to gauge sexualharassment (Kamal & Tariq, 1997). Information on various demographic characteristics wasgathered using a self-made demographic sheet. Using SPSS 21, one-way ANOVA and neuralnetwork analysis were executed. The results of the present investigation demonstrated asubstantial predictive relationship between demographic factors (job status, age, education, andduration of job) with sexual harassment. The results showed that age 0.473 (100% normalizedimportance) was the most significant predictor of sexual harassment among police women,followed by education 0.348 (73.5% normalized importance), duration of job 0.114 (24.1%normalized importance), and job status.065% (13.7% normalized importance). All four variableswere contributing to the level of sexual harassment among police women. The results of thepresent investigation can be beneficial for policymakers in terms of new knowledge andstatistical data to prevent this population from experiencing sexual assault.

Researching Students’ Experiences of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence and Harassment: Reflections and Recommendations from Surveys of Three UK HEIs

In the US, ‘campus climate surveys’ are an established measure of the prevalence of, and students’ awareness of and attitudes to sexual and gender-based violence and harassment (SGBVH). They are regularly carried out by universities to assist SGBVH prevention and responses. Such surveys have only recently started to be carried out within UK higher education institutions (HEIs) and the three authors of this article all independently undertook such surveys in different HEIs. Comparing our experiences of undertaking these surveys across three HEIs allows us to explore similarities and differences in our experiences of this type of research, in particular the challenges which arose in carrying out such research in three very different types of HEI. This article presents reflections on the methodological and political challenges of such work. We discuss our rationales for initiating these projects, the methodological approaches we employed, the governance structures navigated in pursuing the research and the difficulties that arose in conducting and reporting on the research. This article will be of interest to academics, activists, and policy-makers—domestically and internationally—who wish to carry out such research. By comparing approaches, we draw attention to issues and potential impediments of relevance to others wanting to embark on similar work within their own HEI.

An Exploratory Investigation Into Women's Experience of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace.

The recent surge in online movements challenging the culture of silence surrounding sexual harassment has created new spaces for women to share their stories. This research employed a qualitative, exploratory design to study 199 comments on a public online community forum: "What's The Wildest Thing That Happened To You As A Working Woman?". Inductive thematic analysis was performed on the data which resulted in three overarching themes: "a harassment endemic," "the (im)balance of power," and "it's in the culture". Sexual harassment was centered as a normal part of women's workplace experience, as was lack of affirmative action from employers which increased the severity of experiences. Organizations must commit to challenging the structures and individuals that perpetuate unsafe working conditions for women.

Aspects of Gender and Sexuality in Relation to Experiences of Subjection to Sexual Harassment among Adolescents in General Population.

Subjection to sexual harassment (SH) has been reported more commonly by girls than by boys, by sexual and gender minority youth more than by mainstream youth, and by sexually active youth more than by those not yet experienced in romantic and erotic encounters. However, the research so far has not addressed these correlates simultaneously. This study aimed to explore independent associations between experiencing SH and these aspects of sex, gender and sexuality—considering all of them concurrently. A cross sectional survey with data from Finland was used, with an analyzable sample of 71,964 adolescents aged 14 to 16-years- of age, collected in 2017. The data were analysed using cross-tabulations with chi-square statistics and logistic regression analyses. The types of SH studied were gender harassment, unwelcome sexual attention, and sexual coercion. Girls, sexual and gender minority youth, and youth engaging in romantic and erotic encounters had experienced all three types of SH more commonly than boys, mainstream youth and those not sexually active. Associations between minority status and experiences of sexual harassment were stronger among boys, and being sexually active had stronger associations with subjection to sexual harassment in girls. The findings appear to support the assumption that sexual harassment serves both as a means of perpetuating heteronormativity and the sexual double standard.

Overcoming Data Imbalance Problems in Sexual Harassment Classification with SMOTE

Delivery of justice with the help of artificial intelligence is a current research interest. Machine learning with natural language processing (NLP) can classify the types of sexual harassment experiences into quid pro quo (QPQ) and hostile work environments (HWE). However, imbalanced data are often present in classes of sexual harassment classification on specific datasets. Data imbalance can cause a decrease in the classifier's performance because it usually tends to choose the majority class. This study proposes the implementation and performance evaluation of the synthetic minority over-sampling technique (SMOTE) to improve the QPQ and HWE harassment classifications in the sexual harassment experience dataset. The term frequency-inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) method applies document weighting in the classification process. Then, we compare naïve Bayes with K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) in classifying sexual harassment experiences. The comparison shows that the performance of the naïve Bayes classifier is superior to the KNN classifier in classifying QPQ and HWE, with AUC values of 0.95 versus 0.92, respectively. The evaluation results show that by applying the SMOTE method to the naïve Bayes classifier, the precision of the minority class can increase from 74% to 90%.

Peer sexual harassment, affect, and substance use: Daily level associations among adolescents.

Peer sexual harassment is associated with adolescent substance use at the global level; however, it is unknown whether substance use occurs proximal in time to the sexual harassment experience. This study used daily reports to examine the proximal relations between sexual harassment victimization and affect and substance use. Based on theories of self-medication, we hypothesized that negative affect and substance use (cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana) would be higher than typical on days when sexual harassment occurred relative to nonvictimization days. A community sample of 13-16-year-old adolescents (N = 204, 55.4% female) from a metropolitan area in the northeastern United States completed 56 days of online reports assessing experiences with peer sexual harassment, substance use (cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana), and positive and negative affect. Multilevel modeling revealed that experiencing sexual harassment on a given day was associated with higher than typical negative affect on that day, relative to nonvictimization days. The likelihood of cigarette and alcohol use (but not electronic cigarettes, marijuana, or positive affect) was greater on days when sexual harassment occurred. Sexual harassment victimization is proximally associated with negative affect and alcohol and cigarette use, suggesting that adolescents may be using substances to cope with sexual harassment victimization. The co-occurrence of sexual harassment with negative affect and substance use points to the need for prevention efforts that conjointly address sexual harassment victimization, coping, and substance use.

Job satisfaction among Swedish police officers: The role of work-related stress, gender-based and sexual harassment.

The aim of this cross-sectional study is to increase our understanding of job satisfaction in Swedish police officers by taking into account work-related stress, and sexual and gender-based harassment. Data were collected from 152 police officers working in vulnerable areas in Stockholm using sociodemographic questions, the Police Stress Identification Questionnaire (PSIQ), Sexual and gender-based harassment questions, and Job Descriptive Index (JDI). The obtained results indicated that male and female police officers reported the highest satisfaction in “people on your present job.” The lowest score of job satisfaction in both male and female police officers was related to “opportunity for promotion” and then “pay.” There were no significant differences in the subscales of job satisfaction between male and female police officers. The older and more experienced officers, the less satisfaction was reported in “job in general” and more satisfaction reported in “pay.” Comparing job satisfaction between patrol officers and those officers who worked in internal services showed police patrol officers had higher job satisfaction in “job in general,” “work in the present job,” “opportunity for promotion” and “supervision” compared to their counterparts in internal services. There were not any significant differences between the subscales of job satisfaction between male and female police officers. There was not any significant association between job satisfaction subscales and having experience of sexual or gender-based harassment. Among various subscales of police stressors, organizational stress was in negative relation with three domains of job satisfaction; “job in general,” “pay” and “supervision.” Also, hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed organizational stress was most often of predictive impact related to various job satisfaction domains in police officers.

Longitudinal relationship between experience of sexual harassment and 2-year body image and weight outcomes in adolescence: mediation through self-objectification and psychological distress

BackgroundThe current study investigated the experience of sexual harassment as a risk factor for weight gain and weight/shape concerns in a community sample of adolescents, with potential mediating factors self-objectification and psychological distress.Method1034 Australian adolescents (aged 11 to 19 years) from the EveryBODY longitudinal study of disordered eating pathology participated. Data were collected through online surveys annually for 3 years. Participants completed self-report measures of demographics, sexual harassment, psychological distress, self-objectification, weight/shape concerns and BMI percentile.ResultsA parallel mediation model adjusting for baseline scores found no direct effect between baseline experiences of sexual harassment and change in BMI percentile or weight/shape concern after 2 years. Experiences of sexual harassment significantly increased self-objectification scores after 1 year in female adolescents. Subsequently, higher self-objectification significantly increased the risk of greater weight/shape concern after 1 year in female adolescents. However, no significant mediating relationship was found in the relationship between sexual harassment and weight/shape concern or BMI percentile for either gender. Psychological distress was found to be a clear risk factor for weight/shape concern in both genders after 1 year.ConclusionsIntervention programmes in schools should focus on developing policies to reduce sexual harassment, self-objectification and distress in adolescents.Level of evidenceLevel IV, longitudinal multiple time series without intervention.

The Extent and Nature of Autistic People's Violence Experiences During Adulthood: A Cross-sectional Study of Victimisation.

This study investigated the extent and nature of violence experiences reported by autistic adults. Autistic (n = 118) and non-autistic (n = 110) adults completed a questionnaire about their experiences of sexual harassment, stalking and harassment, sexual violence and physical violence since the age of 15. Autistic adults reported higher rates of all violence types, multiple forms of violence and repeated instances of the same type of violence. Typical gender differences in the patterns of violence (more physical violence reported by men and more sexual violence reported by women) were apparent in the non-autistic but not the autistic group. Findings add to the limited research in this area and highlight the need to identify risk and protective factors. Policy and practice implications are also discussed.

PSH‐C: A measure of peer sexual harassment among children

AbstractPeer sexual harassment among adolescents is a widespread problem worldwide, associated with several adverse outcomes. Although retrospective reports indicate that people's first experience of peer sexual harassment occurs before puberty, research in younger ages is still scarce and measures of peer sexual harassment developed for children are lacking. This study explores the possibility of measuring peer sexual harassment in late childhood by evaluating a new scale of developmentally informed items, the Peer Sexual Harassment Scale—Child (PSH‐C), designed to capture peer sexual harassment (i.e., victimization, perpetration, and witnessing) in late childhood (ages 10–12 years) in the school context. Self‐report surveys were distributed to 1007 fourth‐grade students in Sweden (M age = 10.0 years, SD = .3, n = 516 girls). The PSH‐C showed good psychometric properties, supporting the scale's ability to capture peer sexual harassment in late childhood. Exploratory structural equation analyses suggested a two‐factor structure which was confirmed by confirmatory factor analyses: 1) direct verbal sexual aggression, and 2) direct physical sexual harassment, verbal comments and jokes, and visual sexual harassment. The division of the structure contradicts previous studies of adolescents, possibly indicating a difference in the peer sexual harassment construct in relation to development and age.

Effects of Blended Learning Program for Cyber Sexual Harassment Prevention among Female High School Students in Bangkok, Thailand.

Cyber sexual harassment has been increasing and has become a major public health problem among youths. Therefore, this study primarily aimed to evaluate the effects of a blended learning program on knowledge, attitudes, intention to cope with cyber sexual harassment, behavioral coping strategies, and cyber sexual harassment among female high-school students in Bangkok, Thailand. A quasi-experimental study with a two-group design was conducted from May 2021 to October 2021. A total of 112 students were recruited into either an intervention (n = 56) or a control (n = 56) group. The intervention group participated in a blended learning program for 12 weeks. A self-administered questionnaire was completed by both groups at pre-intervention, post-intervention, and follow-up. Chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test, and repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used for data analysis. The mean score of the intervention group in knowledge, attitude, intention to cope with cyber sexual harassment, behavioral coping strategies, and cyber sexual harassment after completing the program and follow-up were significantly different from baseline and the control group (p < 0.05). A positive effect of the blended learning program was observed among female students. Therefore, this program can be useful for victims, supporting their self-confidence with decreased frequency of cyber sexual harassment experiences.

Gender Differences in the Experience of Sexual Harassment and Assault, and Attitudes toward the #metoo Campaign

ABSTRACT The goal of the current study was to examine gender differences in the experiences of sexual harassment and assaults, and attitudes toward sexual harassment and toward the #MeToo campaign. We conducted a cross-sectional study of 364 women and 253 men. Although the study revealed high percentages of women and men who experienced sexual harassment and assault victimization, significant gender differences were found in almost all outcomes examined: 29% of women reported having experienced sexual assaults compared to 15% of men. Significant gender differences were also found in attitudes toward sexual harassment and toward the #MeToo campaign, women being more positive toward the campaign than men. A stepwise regression was found to be significant, with demographic variables, attitudes toward sexual harassment, and being victims of sexual harassment predicting approximately 46% of the variance in attitudes toward the #MeToo campaign. The higher prevalence of women who reported having experienced sexual harassment and assaults demonstrates that prevention interventions against sexual harassment in society must continue, and awareness of the issue must be intensified. Additionally, interventions and campaigns should focus on men as well, who should also be recognized as victims.

On Social Networks, Anonymous Testimonies, and Other Tools of Feminist Activism against Sexual Violence in Egypt

On Social Networks, Anonymous Testimonies, and Other Tools of Feminist Activism against Sexual Violence in Egypt

Young people's experiences of image-based sexual harassment and abuse in England and Canada: Toward a feminist framing of technologically facilitated sexual violence

This article reports on a qualitative research study Sharing Networked Image Practices (SNIP) among young people. We explore our findings from 37 focus groups with 206 young people aged (11–19) in London and South East England and Toronto, Canada conducted in 2019 and 2020. Drawing on feminist legal and criminological scholarship (Powell & Henry, 2017; McGlynn et al., 2017; McGlynn and Johnson, 2020) we develop a framework to clearly identify how and when image sharing should be constituted as forms of: (1) Image-Based Sexual Harassment (IBSH) (i.e. unsolicited penis images (‘dick pics’) and unwanted solicitation for nudes), and (2) Image-Based Sexual Abuse (IBSA) (i.e. non-consensual image creation/sharing). We argue that categorizing non-consensual image sharing, showing and distributing as image-based sexual harassment and abuse rather than ‘sexting’ is an important conceptual shift to enable young people, schools, parents and all relevant stakeholders to recognize and address new forms of technology-facilitated sexual violence.

Impact of Sexual Harassment and Social Support on Burnout in Physician Mothers.

Background: Burnout affects >50% of physicians, especially women. This study aimed to examine how negative workplace interactions can predict burnout, and whether positive social interactions can mitigate risk. Materials and Methods: In a study of 1627 physician mothers who responded to a survey by the Physician Moms Group, an online Facebook group, we first examined the association between workplace sexual harassment and burnout. In an embedded experiment, we then measured the causal impact of priming perceived social support and connectedness on the three dimensions of employee burnout. Results: Two-thirds of respondents reported having experienced sexual harassment in the past year. Sexual harassment by patients was associated with 0.27 points higher emotional exhaustion, one dimension of burnout (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.12-0.41), equivalent to the predicted impact of an additional 22 weekly work hours on emotional exhaustion. Sexual harassment by patients was also associated with 0.40 points higher patient depersonalization, another dimension of burnout (95% CI 0.27-0.53). Sexual harassment by colleagues was associated with 0.16 points higher emotional exhaustion (95% CI 0.02-0.30), but not other dimensions of burnout. We found no significant relationship between experiences of sexual harassment and levels of personal accomplishment (the third dimension of burnout) among this sample. Priming physician mothers to reflect on their connectedness with other physician mothers significantly increased their sense of personal accomplishment. The priming intervention did not yield a significant effect on emotional exhaustion or depersonalization. Conclusions: Negative and positive social interactions each affect different dimensions of burnout. Sexual harassment-a pervasive type of negative social interaction-strongly predicts emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Reflecting on social connectedness-a type of positive social interaction-can improve one's sense of personal accomplishment with an effect similar in magnitude to more intensive in-person interventions, suggesting that social connectedness through online groups merits further consideration as a tool to mitigate burnout.

Sexual harassment experiences and their consequences for the private lives of Chinese women

Sexual harassment is a global issue threatening individuals’ safety and rights, especially for women. Previous studies mainly focused on the negative impact of sexual harassment on women's health, work, and education. Using data from the Chinese Private Life Survey, this article examines the effect of sexual harassment in both physical and non-physical forms and probes the effect of the perpetrator's relationship to the victim on women's sexual behaviors, sexual and marital well-being, and desires for marriage and childbearing. The results indicate that both physical and non-physical sexual harassment lowered married or cohabitating women's sexual satisfaction and functioning. Sexual harassment by a family member/relative, an intimate partner or an acquaintance produced a larger negative effect on women's sexual well-being than that by others. Married women's marital satisfaction and stability were also undermined if they experienced sexual harassment. A family member/relative, an intimate partner and a stranger as the perpetrator had a larger effect on women's marital well-being than other perpetrators. For unmarried women, sexual harassment was not associated with the desire for marriage. However, those who were physically harassed by an acquaintance were unlikely to have a desire for childbearing. Comparing with non-physical sexual harassment, physical sexual harassment was found to have a larger negative impact on women's private lives.

On a Dentist Chair: Colonial Patriarchal Violence and Everyday Forms of Sexual Harassment

This article is a poetic narrative in the spirit of resistance. It is based on an experience of sexual harassment I had at a dentist’s office in Antigua, Guatemala while conducting ethnographic research. I share an autoethnography, which is analyzed through feminist and historical lenses to highlight how the colonial patriarchal system and its coloniality of power continue to provide fertile ground for everyday forms of sexual harassment in Guatemala. In addition, I explore how power relations are malleable, dynamic, and even unpredictable depending on the bodies we inhabit as researchers. This is an invitation to look within and expand our discussions about the implications of experiencing sexual harassment while conducting research whether we are “in” or “out” of the field. Acknowledging these complexities is crucial to our searches for decolonial practices within the field of ethnography and within the process of academic knowledge production.

Supplemental Material for Addressing Female Trainee Experiences of Sexual Harassment and Discrimination in a Veterans Affairs Mental Health Service

Supplemental Material for Addressing Female Trainee Experiences of Sexual Harassment and Discrimination in a Veterans Affairs Mental Health Service

Adverse childhood experiences, military adversities, and adult health outcomes among female Veterans in the UK

LAY SUMMARY Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are highly stressful events or situations that occur in childhood and adolescence. Childhood adversities can lead to several negative outcomes in adulthood, including poor physical and mental health. Military populations often report a high number of childhood adversities. Research on ACEs that focuses specifically on female Veterans is lacking. The current study explored the relationships among ACEs, military adversities, and adult health outcomes in female army Veterans in the United Kingdom. In total, 750 female army Veterans completed an online survey containing questions about childhood experiences and military adversities, as well as physical and mental health in adulthood. A large percentage of female army Veterans reported at least one ACE, including emotional and physical abuse. Experience of childhood adversities was most strongly linked to experiencing symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder in adulthood and experiences of emotional bullying, sexual harassment, and assault during military service.

Looking the other way: how ideology influences perceptions of sexual harassment

Little research has systematically examined the relationship between ideology and perceptions of sexual harassment. Recognising differences in the way in which sexual harassment and assault were discussed on political programming and social media by partisans, we posed the following questions: (1) ‘Is there an ideological difference in perceptions of observed sexual harassment?’; and (2) ‘Is there also an ideological difference in perceptions of personally experienced sexual harassment?’ Using data from two studies, we find that conservatives are less likely than liberals to perceive and label both ambiguous and unambiguous situations as sexual harassment. Our third study – a survey of adult women – demonstrates that compared to liberal women, conservative women report significantly fewer instances of personally experienced gender discrimination and sexual harassment than liberal women. These results indicate that both observed and lived experiences of sexual harassment are linked to one’s ideological belief structures.