Researchers at the University of Tennessee, Martin, found that men who blame women for being sexually harassed are more likely to be harassers themselves.
As we in the anti-street harassment movement are all too familiar with, the study found that the victim-blaming usually focused on what the person was wearing and what they were doing.
So how was the research conducted?
The researchers of the study wanted to test a theory called “defensive attribution” which suggests that people will try to protect themselves from blame in a given situation. Using this theory, the researched hypothesized that victim-blaming men would be the ones who were most likely actual or potential harassers.
To test the theory, researchers asked 119 college men, ranging in age from 18 to 28, to take a survey measuring how likely men are to sexually harass women.
“The survey doesn’t ask men directly whether they harass women, but rather asks about attitudes associated with harassment, such as whether women use sex to their advantage or are flattered by sexual advances…
Next, the men read eight short vignettes about instances of sexual harassment. In one, a male restaurant server tells his female coworker that her tips would be higher if she’d show more skin. The study participants were then asked how likely it was that they would be in the shoes of the man in each vignette and how much the fictional men and their victims were to blame for the harassment.
Unsurprisingly, the men with a high proclivity toward sexual harassment, as rated from the initial survey, said they felt more similar to the fictional harassers. They were also less likely to blame the harasser for his behaviors and more likely to blame the victim, [fitting with the self-protection theory].
The men’s attitude seemed to be, ‘I might do that kind of thing and I don’t want to get in trouble.'”
The researchers noted that their study only focused on college-aged men and focused on sexual harassment in a workplace setting, so more research is necessary.
But it doesn’t seem like much of a stretch to think that men who are okay with engaging in sexual harassment in the workplace (and blame women for it) would act the same way about sexual harassment of women in public places (street harassment).
As study researcher Colin Key said,
“The current research should provide some comfort — and an early warning — to women who have been sexually harassed and encountered victim-blaming….[They can think], As a woman, when I get blamed, maybe I shouldn’t give a crap about what that guy thinks because maybe he’s the kind of guy who would do this to me, too.”
So remember that – if someone blames you for the harassment based on what they’re wearing, there’s a good chance they’re a harasser or would-be harasser or a harasser-sympathizer! So call them out on it.
