Citation

Gardner J, Allen F. Aust. Psychol. 1996; 31(3): 210-216.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1996, Australian Psychological Society, Publisher Wiley-Blackwell)

DOI

10.1080/00050069608260208

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The present study investigated women students' experience and perceptions of sexual and gender harassment on a university campus, using an adapted version of the Sexual Experiences Questionnaire. Although only 31.7% of students perceived that they had been sexually harassed, 91.3% reported at least one form of behaviour which could be perceived as sexually harassing: 88.1% from students and 53.2% from academics. Academics mainly engaged in gender harassment. Behaviours which students perceived as sexually harassing were students making unwanted attempts at establishing a sexual relationship, academics and students making sexist remarks about women's behaviour and career options, and students making crude or offensive sexual remarks. Students were more likely to perceive that they had been sexually harassed by academics than by students when sexist remarks about women's behaviour and career options were made, lending partial support to the hypothesis that hierarchical level of relationship influenced students' perceptions of sexual harassment. This finding suggests that academics' opinions about women carry more weight than those of fellow students, so academics should consider them carefully and resist the temptation to indulge in "throwaway lines" or jokes, however harmlessly they may be intended.