Fairchild (2010) conducted an online survey on perceptions of sexual harassment (possibly as far as sexual assault) incidents of (N = 1,277) relatively young (mean age 28.11) women. The women were given a series of questions from a modified version of the Sexual Experiences Questionnaire (SEQ) ("Have you ever experienced unwanted sexual attention or interaction from a stranger?"; "Have you ever experienced catcalls, whistles, or stares from a stranger?"; ‘‘Have you ever experienced direct or forceful fondling or grabbing from a stranger?’’) to measure if and/or how often they had been the recipient of such harassing behaviors.

The participants were then presented with a list of 17 contextual factors (including attractiveness, time of day, race, and location) and asked to select which of the features would make an experience of harassment by a stranger more frightening, which would make the experience more enjoyable, and which would make them more likely to react verbally. It was found that the primary factors that determined how enjoyable or traumatic women found the experience to be were:

  • Physical Attractiveness: More attractive men most significantly increased women's enjoyment of the "harassment."
  • Age: Similar or younger age in relation to the participant increased women's enjoyment of the "harassment."
  • Race: Different race of the man made women more likely to rate it as traumatic.

Only 46% of women indicated that sexual harassment could not be made enjoyable. Therefore, it can be inferred that to the majority (54%) of women, sexual harassment could be made enjoyable, under the correct conditions.

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

Factor Fear Enjoyment Verbal Reaction
Attractive Harasser 1.9 27.1 8.3
Unattractive Harasser 20.3 0.2 3.4
Younger Harasser (20s-30s) 10.1 18.2 14.0
Older Harasser (40+) 32.6 1.6 3.7
Harasser Same Race 3.1 4.7 7.6
Harasser Different Race 15.1 1.1 1.6
  • Similar behaviors from an attractive and unattractive man are viewed differently with the attractive man receiving more leeway in the potentially harassing behavior.
  • It can only be assumed that the women (46% of participants) feel that stranger harassment is an unpleasant experience that cannot be improved. However, it is equally likely that these women (or some of them) find the experience highly enjoyable and such enjoyment cannot be increased.

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