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The impact of sexual harassment simulations on women's thoughts and feelings

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Abstract

Women's thoughts and feelings in response to interpersonal and environmental sexual harassment simulations from co-workers with equal or greater organizational status were explored. Eighty-four professional women, primarily Caucasian, listened to an audio simulation of either a man propositioning her or of two men exchanging a denigrating remark about women. Participants listened to the recording twice; once they were asked to imagine the voice was that of their boss/supervisor and once that of their co-worker. The Multiple Affect Adjective Check List-Revised (MAACL-R) revealed a significant increase in dysphoria following all simulations. Interpersonal harassment by a man with higher organizational status increased dysphoria and anticipated assertiveness but lessened self-blame relative to all other experimental conditions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Saint Mary's University, USA

    Sarah Barton Samoluk & Grace M. H. Pretty

Authors
  1. Sarah Barton Samoluk
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  2. Grace M. H. Pretty
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Additional information

This study was part of the first author's master's thesis and was supported in part by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Grant awarded to the second author. The authors would like to thank Marilyn Montgomery, Heather Chipuer, Russel Summers, Toni Laidlaw, and the reviewers for their contributions to this research. We are also indebted to the unnamed women who devoted their time to participate.

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Samoluk, S.B., Pretty, G.M.H. The impact of sexual harassment simulations on women's thoughts and feelings. Sex Roles 30, 679–699 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01544670

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