Sexual Harassment Scenarios Research Articles

A Structuration Analysis of Male Organizational Members’ Responses to Workplace Sexual Harassment

This article draws upon structuration theory to analyze male or-ganizational members’ responses to workplace sexual harassment. In this language production experiment, 462 men with an average of 15.56 years of full-time work experience read a sexual harassment scenario in which they were the target of sexual har-assment from a boss, a coworker, or a supervisee, and then formed a response to that individual about the behavior. A variety of response themes emerged in the data. Male supervisors’ responses to supervisee harassers most frequently involved directives to stop now, and in the future. Directives to stop were also the most frequently used response strategy by male coworkers, but with the addition of profanity in many of the responses. Male supervisees most frequently responded to harassment from a boss with reference to the inappropriateness of the behavior for a boss and/or workplace; these responses were often qualified with politeness, apologetic preludes, and questions. All response themes and nuances thereof are explored in detail. The data support structuration theory’s assertion (Giddens, 1979; 1981; 1984) that the rules and resources that exist in organizations both ena-ble and constrain the ways in which men respond to workplace sexual harassment.

Examining the Effects of Gender Transfer in Virtual Reality on Implicit Gender Bias.

To investigate the effect of gender transfer in virtual reality on implicit gender bias. Gender bias is a type of discrimination based on gender, which can lead to increased self-doubt and decreased self-esteem. Sexual harassment is a hostile form of gender bias that can cause anxiety, depression, and significant mental health issues. Virtual reality (VR) has been employed to help make people become aware of their biases and change their attitudes regarding gender, race, and age. Forty participants were embodied in avatars of different genders and experienced sexual harassment scenarios in VR. A gender Implicit Association Test (IAT) was administered before and after the experience. There was a statistically significant main effect of participant gender (F (1,36) = 10.67, p = .002, partial η2 = .23) on ΔIAT, where males and females reported a decrease (M = -.12, SD = .24) and an increase (M = .10, SD = .25) in IAT scores, respectively. A statistically significant two-way interaction between gender transfer and participant gender was revealed (F (1,36) = 6.32, p = .02, partial η2 = .15). There was a significant simple effect of gender transfer for male participants (F (1,36) = 8.70, p = .006, partial η2 = .19). Implicit gender bias can be modified, at least temporarily, through embodiment in VR. Gender transfer through embodiment while encountering different sexual harassment scenarios helped reduce implicit gender bias. There was a tendency for individuals to increase bias for the gender of the avatar in which they embodied. The current research provided promising evidence that a virtual environment system may be used as a potential training tool to improve implicit gender bias.

Expectancy Violation Exposes the Hidden Victims of Sexual Harassment

Using expectancy violation theory as a framework, it was proposed that men and less attractive male and female targets violate the schema people hold regarding workplace sexual harassment, resulting in them being perceived as experiencing less severe harassment, being less believed, and being recommended to pursue less assertive actions. Australian workers (N = 361) aged 18–82 years completed an online questionnaire based on a hypothetical sexual harassment scenario. The findings demonstrated that expectancy violation effects were present, negatively affecting targets who did not meet the schematic norm of a sexual harassment victim, thus highlighting the difficulty and barriers associated with making and assessing organizational sexual harassment claims.

Predictors of the Sense of Embodiment of a Female Victim of Sexual Harassment in a Male Sample Through 360-Degree Video-Based Virtual Reality.

The sense of embodiment refers to the set of sensations related to having (i.e., ownership), being located in (i.e., location), and controlling (i.e., agency) a virtual body. Recently, 360-degree video-based Virtual Reality (VR) has been used to manipulate the sense of embodiment, generating the body-swap illusion, that is, the illusionary switch from the real body to a virtual one. However, the psychological mechanisms involved in this illusion are still unknown. The present study is a secondary analysis of the study by Ventura et al. (2021) investigating the feasibility of 360-degree video to induce the body swap from a male’s real body to a female virtual body in a sexual harassment virtual environment. In addition, the study explores whether the sense of presence and psychological trait variables related to sexual harassment (i.e., machismo, chivalry, alexithymia, empathic abilities) predict the illusion of owning the body of a female victim of sexual harassment. Forty-four men participated in the study, and the results indicate that the 360-degree video is able to induce the body-swap illusion for location and ownership, but not for agency. Multiple regression analyses showed that the sense of presence was a predictor of the three dimensions of embodiment, but specific psychological traits (i.e., low scores on machismo, high scores on difficulties expressing feelings, and high scores on perspective taking) were also predictor variables of experiencing a greater sense of location and agency in the female virtual body. This study shows that both technological issues and participants’ psychological traits are involved in the experience of the body-swap illusion in a sexual harassment scenario using 360-degree video-based VR.

Domestic workers and sexual harassment in India: Examining preferred response strategies

The purpose of this research is to understand how women working as domestic workers, who are part of the informal sector, are likely to respond to sexual harassment incidents. Unlike the organized sector, women in informal and nontraditional workspaces often do not have access to formal organizational mechanisms for lodging complaints, thus making it important to understand their response strategies. To understand their likely response to sexual harassment in the informal sector, we conducted a detailed survey of 387 domestic workers in India where we presented each respondent with eleven possible sexual harassment scenarios and nine possible responses to each such scenario. We find that (a) women are most likely to employ strategies that are self-focused and with minimal support from friends/family. (b) Women complain to authorities/family only when they can furnish evidence of harassment. (c) Women are not likely to complain to their female supervisor under any circumstances. And (d) unsurprisingly, poorer, and migrant women are likely to be more silent than women who are relatively better-off about harassment. The results, in brief, show a distrust of the current systems. By examining this informal and unorganized workspace, we offer a stronger theoretical understanding of employee responses to sexual harassment and provide practical suggestions.

What Does it Mean to be a Woman? How the Content of Gender Identity May Facilitate Women's Coping with Sexual Harassment.

Sexual harassment and other forms of gendered discrimination are social psychological phenomena, yet the psychological impact of sexual harassment has rarely been examined through a model which considers the role of diverse content of gender identity (i.e. norms). We used an experimental design to investigate how salient norms associated with the social identity of 'women' affect coping with sexual harassment. Participants who identified as women (N = 291) were randomly assigned to either a feminist, traditional feminine, or control norm condition, in which the salience of particular norms associated with womanhood was manipulated. Participants completed measures of personal growth (as a proxy for post-traumatic growth), and help-seeking intentions in response to a hypothetical sexual harassment scenario. Participants in the feminist condition reported significantly greater personal growth relative to those in the traditional feminine and control conditions. Participants in both the feminist and traditional feminine conditions reported significantly greater intentions to seek help from formal supports (e.g. primary care doctor), relative to those in the control condition. The findings suggest that the salience of social identities and their content may be valuable resources in promoting recovery following experiences of gendered discrimination and support the role of social identities in influencing post-trauma trajectories.

Effect of body-gender transfer in virtual reality on the perception of sexual harassment

While sexual harassments are inappropriate behaviors in the society, the interpretation of and sensitivity toward sexual harassment can vary by individual. Differences across individuals, such as gender, may influence whether one interprets an action to be sexually harassing or not. Virtual reality technology enables human behavior assessment without interfacing with physical danger. The present work examined whether gender and body-gender transfer in VR influenced the perception of sexually harassing behaviors, and explored the utility of emerging technology in increasing one’s awareness of behaviors that may be considered sexually harassing. Participants (n=12) embodied in virtual characters of different genders and experienced seven sexually harassing scenarios in an immersive virtual environment in random order. In general, participants provided higher rating to the sensitivity toward sexual harassment in the VR harassment scenarios than those scenarios described on paper. There was an increase in participants’ sensitivity toward sexual harassment after experiencing sexual harassment scenarios from the perspective of the victim in VR. Participants perceived higher level of sexual harassment when they embodied in female avatars, which suggested there was an effect of VR with body-gender transfer on perception of sexual harassment. There were gender differences in awareness of harassing behaviors in VR environment, and VR may be a training method to narrow gender gap and increase awareness toward sexual harassment.

Feminist Active Commitment and Sexual Harassment Perception among Chinese Women: The Moderating Roles of Targets’ Gender Stereotypicality and Type of Harassment

In recent years, sexual harassment has become more acknowledged in many developed countries. However, in East Asian culture, it is a sensitive and controversial topic upon which few scholars have focused. The current research aimed to explore whether the relationship between feminist identity and perception of sexual harassment was affected by target’s traditional or nontraditional gender stereotypicality and types of sexual harassment (unwanted sexual attention or gender harassment) among Chinese working women. The participants were 424 heterosexual women, aged 18 to 71 years-old (mdn = 31), who completed surveys that assessed their feminist Active Commitment and perception of sexual harassment after reading a randomly assigned sexual harassment scenario. Women with higher scores on Active Commitment were more aware of both types of sexual harassment, and participants’ perception of unwanted sexual attention was significantly stronger than their perception of gender harassment. In addition, the types of targets and types of sexual harassment moderated the relationship between Active Commitment and the perception of sexual harassment. Our findings highlight the importance of feminist identity for the perception of sexual harassment and suggest that improving gender equality and feminist education is very important for enhancing the perception of sexual harassment.

He Said, She Said: The Effectiveness and Outcomes of Responses to Sexual Harassment

Recent high-profile cases of sexual harassment focused the spotlight on inappropriate workplace behavior. Much of the prior research on sexual harassment focuses on organizational culture, what organizations can do to create harassment-free environments, and to increase reporting when it does occur. Less work explores what happens in the actual harassment situations, or how the immediate responses to the incivility affect future interactions. This study seeks to fill that gap by exploring effectiveness of the message responses used by female targets of sexual harassment by male harassers to curtail future harassment in the workplace. We also explore how the target’s responses affect bystanders’ perceptions of her communication effectiveness and her future potential of being promoted. Data were gathered from workers with an average of 12 years of work experience. Using a variety of sexual harassment scenarios developed for this study, we found that assertive responses were considered the most effective in supporting a positive image of the target and avoidance was the least effective. To curtail future harassment, assertiveness and assertive-empathetic responses were perceived as effective strategies. In terms of maintaining the prospects for future promotions, participants again rated assertiveness as the best strategy for the target to employ. Across all scenarios, avoidance was a poor strategy. Beyond several interesting research findings, the scenarios provide materials that could be modified for use by those who are trainers dealing with sexual harassment or could be used as a foundation for more advanced research regarding sexually harassing messages.

The power of the majority: Social conformity in sexual harassment punishment selection

AbstractIn his famous social conformity experiments in the 1950's, Asch found 75% of participants conformed to confederates’ incorrect answers at least once, with an overall conformity rate of 32%, revealing that humans are highly likely to conform to group behavior even when that behavior is clearly wrong. The purpose of this study was to determine if the social conformity effect generalized to scenarios involving sexual harassment punishment selections in the workplace. Participants read various workplace sexual harassment scenarios and then witnessed four confederates chose one of three types of punishments (verbal warning, 1‐week suspension, or termination). The confederates stated aloud punishments that were either appropriate (i.e., similar to normative data) or inappropriate (i.e., deviating either too harshly or leniently to normative data). Participants then provided their punishments selection aloud, and confidentially rated their decision confidence. We found an overall conformity rate of 46%, as 82.67% conformed at least once to harsh or lenient punishment selections. Participants who conformed to incorrect punishment selections exhibited lower levels of decision confidence, indicating that conformity may have been due more to social normative influence. The current results imply the social responses of others (i.e., coworkers, supervisors, or HR) can impact responses to sexual harassment. The results imply that social influence may be a significant contributing factor in mislabeling, misreporting, or inappropriately punishing sexual harassment in some organizations.

Does Power Distance Influence Perceptions of Sexual Harassment at Work? An Experimental Investigation

The influence of cultural values on perceptions of sexual harassment has often been examined by making comparisons across cultures. As the workplace becomes increasingly diverse, it becomes more important to investigate the effects of individual-level cultural values on workplace behaviors. In the present study, we investigated the influence of differences in power distance value orientation on perceptions of sexual harassment. Participants were primed with a high versus low power distance mindset using priming procedures (Brockner et al. in J Exp Soc Psychol 37:300–315, 2001) and then presented with sexual harassment scenarios (representing either hostile work environment or quid pro quo situations). Participant ratings of perceived severity of sexual harassment within the scenarios were obtained. Findings suggest that individuals primed with high power distance were more tolerant of sexual harassment and perceived these behaviors as less severe, as compared to those who were primed with low power distance. Implications for research and development of future sexual harassment training programs are discussed.

Galimybės keisti klaidingus įsitikinimus dėl seksualinio priekabiavimo Lietuvos studentų imtyje

Sexual harassment is one of the most common gender-based discrimination forms in Lithuania and is experienced at least once in a lifetime by 35% of women from the age of 15. The recently published results of a survey implemented by the Lithuanian Students’ Union (2018) showed that 5 percent of students from different universities and colleges in Lithuania possess experiences that they identify as sexual harassment; however, the majority of them are afraid to report these incidents because of the negative public reaction or because of the potential impact on their academic achievements. An absence of a clear definition and the prevailing misconceptions about sexual harassment, as well as a lack of information about the procedure of reporting sexual harassment, makes sexual harassment an ambiguous problem that became the topic of public discussion but has not been dealt with properly. Various studies show promising results of different sexual harassment prevention activities and makes it possible to assume that such training might be a way of reducing the prevalence of sexual harassment in the academic environment. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a brief sexual harassment training course in reducing positive attitudes toward sexual harassment and the acceptance of sexual harassment myths, as well as improving the identification of sexual harassment situations, in a sample of Lithuanian students.
 Thirty-two students (28 females and 4 males) took part in this research and attended a brief sexual harassment training that lasted for 1 hour 30 minutes. The participants’ age varied from 19 to 28 years, the average age being 22.9 years (SD = 2.19). A self-reported questionnaire consisted of several scales: the Sexual Harassment Attitude Scale (Cronbach α – 0,86) (Mazer & Percival, 1989) measuring the participants’ positive attitudes toward sexual harassment; the Illinois Sexual Harassment Myth Acceptance Scale (Cronbach α – 0,92) (Lonsway, Cortina, & Magley, 2008); 8 self-report scenarios were created based on Bursik (1992) and consultations with the Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson to measure the participants’ perceptions of sexual harassment. Additional demographic questions were also included.
 The results revealed significant changes in sexual harassment perception, myth acceptance and attitudes toward sexual harassment before and after the training. Study results showed significantly reduced positive attitudes toward sexual harassment and that the participants were less likely to attribute sexual harassment to being a part of a romantic relationship. Even though the results showed a significantly lower “Normal heterosexuality” subscale in terms of the results on the Sexual Harassment Myth Acceptance Scale, participants were, however, more likely to attribute blame to the victim of sexual harassment after the prevention training. The study results also revealed that after the training, the participants evaluated more sexual harassment scenarios as sexual harassment than before the training.

How Organizational Policies Influence Bystander Likelihood of Reporting Moderate and Severe Sexual Harassment at Work

Little is known about the causal effect of sexual harassment policies on sexual harassment outcomes at work. Based on schema theories of social cognition, organizational policies related to sexual harassment should have a greater impact on responses to moderate, versus severe, forms of sexual harassment. In Study 1, 219 undergraduate students were shown a fictitious company website describing one of three company policies on sexual harassment (a zero-tolerance policy, a standard harassment policy, or no policy), and were then assigned to read about a moderate or severe instance of sexual harassment they ostensibly observed at the organization. Results indicated participants in the zero-tolerance policy condition were more likely to intend to formally report the harassment to their organization than those in the other conditions. This effect was especially strong for the moderate, or more ambiguous, sexual harassment scenario. Study 2 replicated and extended Study 1 using 101 Human Resources professionals and actual policy statements from an organization. Results again indicated that a zero-tolerance policy leads to the highest estimates of bystander reporting, especially for instances of moderate sexual harassment. Implications for practice include a caution against using minimal or compulsory harassment policies in place of salient zero-tolerance policies.

85 The Difference of Professionalism Between Emergency Medicine Residents and Faculty Physicians: Multicenter Cross-Sectional Analysis

Professionalism is one of the critical emergency medicine (EM) physician competencies and professional behavior affects patient satisfaction. Forty-five percent of EM program directors reported that there were two or more residents with unprofessional behavior in their programs per year. Another study reported that role model was the most influential factor. However, there is no evidence to support that there is difference of professionalism between EM residents and EM faculty physicians. Therefore, to investigate difference of professionalism between EM residents and EM faculty physicians may facilitate medical professionalism education. Thus, by using a cross-sectional multicenter survey, we aimed to analyze the responses to common challenges to medical professionalism for EM physicians and to survey the extent of education related to professionalism and satisfaction with it during the time attending medical schools. We conducted a survey of EM residents and EM faculty physicians at several teaching hospitals in Japan, using the Barry questionnaire. The Barry’s questionnaire is one of the assessment of professionalism tools widely used in the US and Japan. The questionnaire instrument contains 6 challenging cases to professionalism: acceptance of gifts; conflict of interest; confidentiality; physician impairment; sexual harassment; and honesty in the documentation. After completing all six scenarios, participants were asked, ‘Have you ever experienced formal educational courses about medical professionalism?’ on yes or no responses. We sent the Barry's questionnaire to 6 hospitals. In addition, we collected data at the Japanese biannual emergency medicine academic meeting. We analyzed the frequency of providing either the best or the second best answers to each scenario as a main outcome measure and compared those frequencies between physicians in EM residents and EM faculty physicians. The Fisher exact test and proportion comparison test with normal distribution approximation were used to analyze data, where appropriate. We collected data from 135 participants (61 EM residents and 74 EM faculty physicians). Capture rate was 87%. The most challenging scenario was the sexual harassment scenario, in which 46.7% provided the best or second best answers, followed by the confidentiality scenario with 71.1%. Table 1 compares the frequencies that the participants provided the best or second best responses between EM resident and EM faculty physician. The frequency of either the best or second best responses to the confidentiality scenario was significantly greater in EM residents than in EM faculty physicians (p= 0.01). There were higher rates of participants who received formal educational courses about medical professionalism in EM residents' group versus in EM faculty physicians' group (23.0% versus 5.4%, p=0.003). EM faculty physicians were unable to provide acceptable response to challenges to professionalism in confidentiality and few had received an education in professionalism during school curricula. The greater teaching of professionalism is needed in medical education for both EM residents and EM faculty physicians in Japan.

Responding to Gendered Violence Among College Students: The Impact of Participant Characteristics on Direct Bystander Intervention Behavior

ABSTRACTBystander intervention has been an effective strategy for crime prevention and has been successful in the context of campus sexual assault. Less is known about the extent to which individual-level factors correlate with intervention behavior in situations of intimate partner violence (IPV) and sexual harassment. The present study used a sample of 377 undergraduate student surveys on a campus without a bystander intervention program to examine the impact of individual-level participant factors on direct intervention across sexual assault, IPV, and sexual harassment scenarios. Findings demonstrated statistically significant differences where positive bystander attitudes and violence prevention efficacy correlated with direct intervention for sexual assault; positive bystander attitudes, personality extroversion, and exposure to a victim increased intervention behavior in an IPV scenario, and positive bystander attitudes and violence prevention efficacy increased direct intervention and lifetime experience of IPV decreased direct intervention in a sexual harassment scenario. Research and policy implications are discussed.

A threatening exchange: Gender and life history strategy predict perceptions and reasoning about sexual harassment

Sexual harassment is a serious societal issue, with extensive economic and psychological consequences, yet it is also an ill-defined construct fundamentally defined in terms of subjective perception. The current work was designed to examine the ways in which individual differences between people are systematically related to different perceptions of sexual harassment scenarios, as well as reasoning about those harassment situations. Participants (N=460) read several possible harassment scenarios and rated how uncomfortable they would find them. They then also evaluated a quid pro quo sexual harassment situation in terms of their interpretation of it as a threat or a social exchange and completed a deductive reasoning task about the same situation. Females and individuals with slow life history strategies were more uncomfortable with potential harassment situations and were more likely to interpret the quid pro quo scenario as a threat. Further, interpreting the scenario as a threat was associated with poorer performance on the deductive logic task, compared to those who interpreted the scenario as a social exchange.

¿Mito o realidad? Influencia de la ideología en la percepción social del acoso sexual

Sexual harassment has become an issue of great social importance today. However, it is an invisible problem. This study aimed to investigate possible factors that influence the social perception on sexual harassment. In the first study, 177 participants read a sexual harassment scenario where a boss performs sexually harassing behavior towards a female worker. Then, participants answered the interest measures. In the second study, 65 participants read a harassment scenario where a teacher performs harassing behavior towards a student, and after that, participants answered the interest measures. Main results were that the more tolerance toward sexual harassment, myth acceptance and sexist attitudes had the participants, the more they attributed blame to the victim, and perceived the behavior as less harassing. Studies like this could help to create a bigger social conscience about sexual harassment, with the aim to detect and prevent this situation.

Recent Developments in Sexual Harassment Law: Towards a New Model

<p>Despite more than 20 years of sexual harassment being unlawful, it is still a persistent problem in Australian workplaces and one which is grossly under-reported. The law is this area should seek both to redress the harm<br />suffered by the victim and to reduce the power imbalance between males and females. The effectiveness of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 in achieving these objectives was reviewed by a Senate Committee in 2008.<br />One of its recommendations was for positive duties to be imposed on employers to eliminate sexual harassment. This article outlines how this recommendation might be implemented, and taken further, by shifting the<br />onus away from the victim and onto the more powerful players in any sexual harassment scenario – the harasser, the employer and the community in the relevant workplace.</p>

Questionnaire survey for challenging cases of medical professionalism in Japan

Background: Little information is available on evaluation of medical professionalism among Japanese physicians and on its education in Japanese medical schools.Aims: To assess professionalism and its education in Japan.Method: We analysed the responses to challenges to professionalism for Japanese residents and physicians, using the Barry Questionnaire, and to survey the extent of education related to professionalism during medical school curricula. The survey was conducted at 14 teaching hospitals in Kyushu and Okinawa, using existing hospital conferences.Results: We collected data from 175 participants (60 residents and 115 faculty physicians). The most challenging was the sexual harassment scenario, in which 51.4% provided the best or 2nd best answers, followed by the honesty scenario with 69.7% and the confidentiality scenario with 76.0%. Participants were more likely to provide the best or 2nd best responses to the scenarios involving physician impairment (87.4%), conflict of interest (81.1%), and acceptance of gifts (78.3%). Five (3%) participants reported learning experiences about professionalism during the curricula and the median hours for its course work were two hours. Only one resident reported that she was satisfied with these educational sessions.Conclusions: Many Japanese physicians were unable to provide an acceptable response to challenges to professionalism in several issues and few had received education in professionalism during school curricula. Greater teaching of professionalism is needed in medical education in Japan.

NAFTA Students’ Whistle-Blowing Perceptions: A Case of Sexual Harassment

Business students from the three NAFTA countries were shown a possible Sexual Harassment scenario from Arthur Andersen’s Business Ethics Program. They were asked to respond to a pre-questionnaire concerning the three characters’ behaviors and possible actions and a post-questionnaire after writing a report from the points of view of the three characters in the scenario. The students were asked to consider whether the characters should report the possible harasser to their supervisor, and thus engage in whistle-blowing behavior, as well as directly confront the harasser. Hypotheses are formulated for the three NAFTA countries based on Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. There were significant differences, but in some cases not in the direction expected. Gender differences are also explored, but there were few significant differences.