Context Effects on Women's Perceptions of Stranger Harassment

  • Context plays a vital role in interpretation of stranger harassment.

  • Age and attractiveness of the harasser were implicated in making a harassment situation more frightening or more enjoyable.

Table 2. Frequency (in percent) of contextual factors reported to increase fear, enjoyment, and verbal reactions to stranger harassment [EXCERPT]

| Fear | Enjoyment :--|:--|:-- Attractive harasser | 1.9 | 27.1 Unattractive harasser | 20.3 | .2 Younger harasser (20–30s) | 10.1 | 18.2 Older harasser (40 and up) | 32.6 | 1.6 Harasser is the same race as me | 3.1 | 4.7 Harasser is a different race than me | 15.0 | 1.1

  • The most interesting finding regarding emotions was that the control condition was viewed as more negative than the conditions with the attractive man, the younger man, and with two girlfriends. This was not predicted and presents a curious result. Because the control condition did not include details about the harasser, harassee, or situation, it is quite likely that participants added their own interpretations to the story [= the harasser was likely presumed to be old and unattractive when no description was given].

  • Women predicted that the target character would be more likely to view the harassment as harmless or a joke when the harasser is younger than the target woman.

Women's Reactions to Hypothetical Male Sexual Touch as a Function of Initiator Attractiveness and Level of Coercion

  • In reaction to low and medium levels of coercion, women anticipated feeling more flattered by the advances of an attractive initiator than by those of an unattractive one. In addition, regardless of the amount of coercion used, women regarded the sexually coercive actions of an attractive initiator as having a less negative effect and as being more socially acceptable than those of an unattractive one.

  • On average women anticipated feeling mildly flattered by the sexual advances that employed lower levels of coercion.

  • Women indicated that being the target of a coercive act would, overall, affect them negatively. How negatively, however, depended on the level of coercion used. They expected, for example, to be very negatively affected when either their breasts or genitals were touched. Their feelings, however, were more neutral when they anticipated to be gently touched and kissed by their casual male acquaintance. This last result is contrary to the finding that women react very negatively to almost all forms of sexual coercion, from kissing to fondling.

The Perception of Sexual Harassment in Higher Education: Impact of Gender and Attractiveness

  • Both men and women judged a sexual harassment incident involving a female perpetrator as less harassing than the same incident involving a male perpetrator.

  • Physical attractiveness worked in favor of the perpetrator when the judge was of the perpetrator's opposite gender and hurt the perpetrator when the judge was of the perpetrator's same gender.

  • Female research participants perceived more harassment when the victim was attractive.

  • The fact that women perpetrators in this study were seen to be more appropriate, to possess more personal power, and to have a more engaging interpersonal style than men perpetrators indicated that womens' actions are even more likely than men's actions to be misinterpreted as harmless flirtation.

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: Exploring the Effects of Attractiveness on Perception of Harassment

  • Ambiguous behaviors were more likely to be perceived as instances of sexual harassment when the potential female victim was more attractive and when the potential male harasser was less attractive.

  • The interaction between an attractive male and an unattractive female was least likely to be perceived as sexual harassment. This was true for both male and female raters.

  • Stereotypes associated with attractiveness may bias the identification of a behavior such that an ambiguous action directed at an attractive female is assumed to be harassing, especially if performed by an unattractive male.