Sexual harassment includes gender harassment. This is a name designed to emphasise the fact that harmful (and perhaps illegal) sexual harassment does not have to encompass sexual activity. Gender harassment constitutes discrimination because it is harmful, and it is based on gender—it is not necessarily motivated by sexual desire, nor need it involve any sexual activity.
Both legal doctrine and social science research recognise gender as encompassing two distinct things; one’s biological sex, and gender-based stereotypes and expectations (such as heterosexuality and proper performance of gender rôles). Sexual harassment in the form of gender harassment can be based on the violation of cultural gender stereotypes. For example, a man may experience gender harassment for being a “sissy” or being easily embarrassed by pornography (violating stereotypes that men should be strong, heterosexual, and sexually bold). A woman may be gender harassed for taking a job traditionally held by a man, or in a traditionally male field. Gender harassment in such a situation might consist of actions to sabotage the woman’s tools, machinery, or equipment, or telling the woman she is not smart enough for scientific work.
A three-part classification system has been developed by psychologists, that divides sexual harassment into distinct but related categories; sexual coercion, unwanted sexual attention, and gender harassment
· Sexual coercion entails sexual advances, and makes the conditions of employment (or education, for students) contingent upon sexual cooperation.
· Unwanted sexual attention also entails sexual advances, but it does not add professional rewards or threats to force compliance. In this category are expressions of romantic or sexual interest that are unwelcome, unreciprocated, and offensive to the target; examples include unwanted touching, hugging, stroking, and persistent requests for dates or sexual behaviour despite discouragement, and can include assault.
· Gender harassment, by far the most common type of sexual harassment, refers to a broad range of verbal and nonverbal behaviors not aimed at sexual cooperation but that convey insulting, hostile, and degrading attitudes about members of one gender. Gender harassment is further defined as two types: sexist hostility and crude harassment. Examples of the sexist hostility form of gender harassment for women include demeaning jokes or comments about women, comments that women do not belong in leadership positions or are not smart enough to succeed in a scientific career, and sabotaging women. The crude harassment form of gender harassment is defined as the use of sexually crude terms that denigrate people based on their gender (for example using insults such as “slut” to refer to a female coworker or “pussy” to refer to a male coworker).
Both women and men experience all three forms of sexual harassment to some degree (but women far, far more than men), but some subgroups face higher rates than others. For example, women who are lesbian or bisexual, women who endorse gender-egalitarian beliefs, and women who are stereotypically masculine in behavior, appearance, or personality, experience sexual harassment at higher rates than other women. Likewise, men who are gay, transgender, petite, or in some way perceived as “not man enough” encounter more harassment than other men.
Interestingly, the motivation underlying sexual coercion and unwanted sexual attention behaviors appears different from the motivation underlying gender harassment. Whereas the first two categories suggest sexual advances (the goal being sexual exploitation of women), the third category is expressing hostility toward women (the goals being insult, humiliation, or ostracism). In other words, sexual coercion and unwanted sexual attention can be viewed as “come-ons”, while gender harassment is, for all intents and purposes, a “put-down”. However, it is important to note that these come-on behaviors are not necessarily about attraction to women; more often than not, they are instead motivated by the desire to devalue women or punish those who violate gender norms (me 😣).
Oy, me, me, me. How selfish.
This post is based on material from Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2018)