More and more studies are showing that sexual harassment – including street harassment – is a widespread problem that negatively impacts the lives of harassed persons. But there is less information available about why sexual harassment happens and how to prevent it from occurring.
A reporter for the International Business Times covers what IS known:
“What are some of the causes of sexual harassment? Despite popular perceptions, it’s usually not about innocent flirtation. In one 2008 study published in the journal Sex Roles, researchers interviewed 80 men from the Arlington, Texas area. They found that a man was more likely to exhibit harassing behavior if he was also more likely to suspect that women were criticizing and rejecting him.
“These findings also support recent speculation that men’s sexual harassment of women is related to aggression rather than seduction,” the authors wrote.
When you turn to the literature to try and find scientific evidence for what interventions actually work, there’s an incredible gap of scientific evidence. In his 2007 meta-analyses reviewing 8 studies from between 1995 and 2006, researcher Bruce Douglas found that diversity training tends to have only a small effect on attitudes or behavior. Other studies also report just marginal benefits from sexual harassment prevention training.
“The lack of quantitative studies on diversity training continues to be prevalent,” Douglas wrote.
So what is to be done? There may be another avenue to help the victim that doesn’t rely on educating the harasser: all the other people in the office. Bystanders – such as people who hear about sexual harassment through the office grapevine, or directly from the harassed colleague – can also be powerful tools in combating harassment in the workplace, according to a July 2012 report from the Australian Human Rights Commission.“
For suggestions on what to do as a bystander, visit our webpage, watch “Shit Men Say to Men who Say Shit to Women on the Streets” and read our new book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers.
Our proposed national study on street harassment will survey both women and men and ask questions about if survey takers have ever been harassers and if so, why. This is sorely needed data! You can donate $10 or more today to help make this study, about the people and funded by the people, possible.
