Identify the issue: Sexual harrassment
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- Identify resources and actions to address sexual harassment
- Learn to recognize sexual harassment
“But the issue of sexual harassment is not the end of it. There are other issues – political issues, gender issues – that people need to be educated about.” — Anita Hill
“Sexual harassment is a systemic issue that is experienced individually.”
Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal, or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when this conduct, explicitly or implicitly, affects an individual’s employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment. Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Unfortunately, the incidence of sexual harassment of women graduate students is prevalent. Some studies have shown that over a third of women graduate students report having been sexually harassed by faculty or staff. A higher proportion of women in science, engineering and mathematics programs (SEM) experience sexual harassment than non-SEM students. In a 2019 Association of American Universities study, over half of the transgender and genderqueer graduate students experienced sexual harassment and of those, 34% indicated that the perpetrator was a faculty or staff member. In contrast, sexual harassment of women undergraduates is more often perpetrated by peers. The length of doctoral programs, the small disciplinary communities, the close quarters of fieldwork in some fields, and the highly consequential power differentials between faculty and students in graduate school contribute to the differences.
1) Quid Pro Quo — “this for that”
Quid pro quo is sexual coercion. It includes any type of threat that sexual submission is necessary to advance in or prevent negative consequences to a person’s status, education, or career.
Examples of quid pro quo sexual harassment:
- A supervisor implies to you that sexual activity is a condition of your employment
- A teacher offers to give you a good grade in class in exchange for a date or sexual activity
- A committee member threatens not to approve your research proposal if you do not comply with their sexual advances
2) Hostile environment
This occurs when unwanted touching, comments, gestures, or factors in the environment are sufficiently severe or pervasive to create an intimidating, hostile, or offensive environment. In universities, a hostile environment refers to unwelcome behavior or conduct of a sexual nature that unreasonably interferes with academic pursuits, employment, or participation in university-sponsored programs or activities.
Examples of behaviors that can contribute to a hostile environment:
Blocking a person’s path
Discussing sexual activities
Telling crude jokes
Unnecessary touching
Commenting on a person’s physical attributes
Displaying sexually suggestive pictures or language
Using demeaning or inappropriate terms, such as “babe”
Using indecent gestures
Sabotaging work
Engaging in threatening physical conduct
Using offensive language
Brushing up against a person’s body
Graffiti about a person’s sexuality
Staring at a person’s body
First of all, if someone is behaving in a way that makes you uncomfortable, you have the right to ask that person to stop. They may not realize that what they have done or said is offensive to you, so consider not responding in an angry manner. You also do not need to apologize or explain yourself. It is best to be direct. Here are some suggestions:
“You might not realize it, but how you are behaving right now is making me uncomfortable and I would appreciate it if you would stop.”
“Those comments make me uncomfortable. I would prefer if you not say those things around me.”
“I don’t really see the humor in that. I think it sounds offensive, actually.”
“Please don’t do that.”
“No, thank you. And please do not ask me that again.”
When you are experiencing harassment, it might be hard to gauge whether or not you have a problem on your hands because those around you might not react the same way you do. Studies have shown that men and women often perceive harassment differently. Women perceive a broader range of behaviors as behaviors that contribute to a hostile environment. In the case of Ellison v. Brady, 1991, the courts declared that a hostile environment constitutes “conduct that (a) reasonable woman or person would consider sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter conditions of employment and create (an) abusive working environment.”
To be considered sexual harassment, a behavior or environment must be:
- Subjectively considered abusive to the person experiencing the behavior (whether or not the offender intended for the behavior to be harmful)
- Objectively severe or pervasive enough to create a work environment that a reasonable person (not the purported harasser) would find abusive
The bottom line here is that YOUR reaction to harassment is a starting place. At this point, the legal system requires that your reaction needs an objective outside standard as well. When you think there is a problem, trust your gut.
Avoid or drop a course to evade harassing party
Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms (i.e., flashbacks, nightmares, hyperarousal)
Psychological Distress
Physical Symptoms (i.e., nausea or sleeplessness)
Depression
Negative educational outcomes
Depleted confidence in academic competence
While any sexual harassment experience is valid and matters, some isolated events probably do not warrant action beyond asking a person to stop their behavior. For example, one crude joke or request for a date from your lab partner might make you feel uncomfortable, but it probably would not be considered sexual harassment to an outsider.
Below are some questions that can help you to determine how serious your particular experience may be:
Does the behavior make your educational or career experience unpleasant?
How frequent is the unwanted behavior? For example, if offensive joking occurs daily in your lab, and persists after requests that it stop, you may be experiencing a hostile environment.
How severe is the behavior? For example, if a committee member threatens not to approve your proposal if you do not sleep with them, this single case may be severe enough to take serious action.
Was the behavior physically threatening or humiliating in a sexual way and did it interfere with your education or work performance? For example, do you avoid working with someone because they make you feel unsafe?
Is the person who is performing the behavior a superior, or someone with power over you? You may still experience sexual harassment from an equal, but people with power over you can more easily abuse this power.
Is the problematic behavior related to sex? Behavior does not have to be sexual in nature or be directed at a specific person to be considered harassment on the basis of sex. However, if it is sexual in nature, such as sexist joke-telling, inappropriate touching, or requests for sexual favors, it is more likely to be considered sexual harassment.
Do you feel like you are expected to tolerate the behavior in order to keep your position or standing?
This is a common concern for women experiencing sexual harassment. However, it is ILLEGAL for someone to retaliate against you for filing a sexual harassment complaint, and against most universities’ policies. It is also against most universities’ policies on sexual harassment for a supervisor or administrator to fail to investigate or report allegations of sexual harassment.
Most universities have policies in place to keep the information of both parties in a sexual harassment complaint confidential. See your university’s policies on confidentiality and privacy rights involved in reporting incidents of sexual harassment.
- Don’t blame yourself
- Ask or tell the person to stop
- Clearly say “no”
- Document what occurred. In many states, you can record your conversation without the other parties’ permission. Use your phone.
- Tell someone you trust if the harassment continues, or if the first event is particularly severe
First, check with your particular university’s policies and procedures on sexual harassment. Below are possible ways to go about reporting sexual harassment:
a. One option is to disclose information to someone with supervisory status above the person who is harassing you, such as a faculty member, supervisor, human resource manager, or administrator. They are required to take action according to your school’s policy.
b. Some schools have faculty and staff who are trained to give advice on dealing with sexual harassment.
c. Many universities have a department or individual designated to deal with Title IX issues, such as a Sexual Harassment Advisor or Sexual Harassment/Title IX Officer (the titles vary depending on instiution.
d. You also have many different options to file an external (legal) complaint.
Your state’s Attorney General’s Office
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission http://www.eeoc.gov/
[Note: Nothing in this module should be construed as legal advice. This material is intended to provide general information only.]
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: prohibits discrimination by covered employers on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. In 1986, the Supreme Court ruled that sexual harassment constitutes sex discrimination.
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972: The federal law prohibiting sexual harassment in schools which prohibits any person, on the basis of sex, to be subjected to discrimination in an educational program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.
State laws: Contact or review information on your state’s Office of Civil Rights to learn about your state’s laws on sexual harassment and discrimination.
City and County: Check your local laws regarding sexual harassment and discrimination.
University policies: All schools and universities that receive federal funding are required to have policies on sexual harassment.
Other Helpful Resources
National Women’s Law Center (NWLC)
Sexual harassment is a significant problem that has received increasing attention in the last few years as the harassment by academics, celebrities and politicians has been revealed. Staying informed about what defines sexual harassment, resources, and actions you can take is in your best interests and can also be helpful to others you care about. Sexual harassment undermines women’s trust in academic institutions and affects motivation and well-being. While you may feel isolation and stigma surrounding your experience, we hope that this information empowers you to use your voice and seek help when needed.
Cantalupo, N., & Kidder, W. (2018). A systematic look at a serial problem: Sexual harassment of students by university faculty. Utah Law Review, 2018 (3), 671–786.
Chang, Y., Ali, S., Sahu, A., Dong, S., Thornhill, C. W., Milian, P., & Castillo, L. G. (2020). Chinese International Student Sexual Harassment on U.S. College Campuses. Journal of International Students, 11(3). https://doi.org/10.32674/jis.v11i3.2678
Clancy, K., Lee, K., Rodgers, E., & Richey, C. (2017). Double jeopardy in astronomy and planetary science: Women of color face greater risks of gendered and racial harassment. Journal of Geophysical Research. Planets, 122(7), 1610–1623. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JE005256
Clancy, K. B., Nelson, R. G., Rutherford, J. N., & Hinde, K. (2014). Survey of academic field experiences (SAFE): Trainees report harassment and assault. PloS one, 9(7), e102172. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0102172
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2018). Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academis Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Washington,DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/24994
Pina, A., & Gannon, T. (2012). An overview of the literature on antecedents, perceptions and behavioural consequences of sexual harassment. The Journal of Sexual Aggression, 18(2), 209–232. https://doi.org/10.1080/13552600.2010.501909
Rosenthal, M. N., Smidt, A. M., & Freyd, J. J. (2016). Still second class: Sexual harassment of graduate students. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 40, 364–377. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684316644838
Rothgerber, H., Kaufling, K., Incorvati, C., Andrew, C., & Farmer, A. (2020). Is a Reasonable Woman Different from a Reasonable Person? Gender Differences in Perceived Sexual Harassment. Sex Roles, 84(3-4), 208–. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-020-01156–
Sexual Harassment. U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. https://www.eeoc.gov/sexual-harassment.
Westat, 2020. Report on the AAU Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Sexual Misconduct. [online] Rockville: The Association of American Universities. https://www.aau.edu/key-issues/campus-climate-and-safety/aau-campus-cli…
Words of Wisdom: Dr. Camacho
Urges female graduate students to persist in the field of mathematics because the field needs diversity.
Sexual Harassment: It’s Not Just You
The importance of sharing stories of sexual harassment with others to gain support.
Lack of Women Role Models
The importance of sharing stories of sexual harassment with others and realizing that you are not alone.
How to Have Sexual Harassment Policies
How to be upfront, direct, and assertive when confronting instances of sexual harassment.
Creating an Environment for Exchanging Ideas
How the physical space in a laboratory allowed for collaboration among colleagues.
The Residual Effects of Sexual Harassment
How to survive the aftermath of a sexual harassment incident.
On Speaking Up: A Conference Experience
Confronting a male colleague with contradictory findings at a conference.
Dealing with Assumptions and Accusations
Being accused of cheating and regrets about not being more assertive.