Contrapower sexual harassment: The effects of student sex and type of behavior on faculty perceptions

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of sex of offender and type of behavior on faculty perceptions of contrapower sexual harassment. Probability samples of predominately white male and female faculty at two universities in the Midwest were asked to read and make judgments about an incident that might constitute sexual harassment of a faculty member by an opposite-sex student. The effects of offender/student sex, type of harassing behavior, and subject sex were assessed. Some of the results included, as hypothesized, that when the student offender was male, subjects were more likely to: (1) view the incident as harassment, (2) believe the faculty member would be upset, and (3) see the student as responsible, compared to when the student offender was female. Overall, obscene phone calls and explicit verbal-physical harassment were viewed more negatively than written sexual comments and implicit verbal-physical harassment. Female faculty subjects also viewed the incidents as more negative or problematic on several measures than did male faculty.