Men were more likely to be sexually harassed in the workplace than women

**Feckless** · 15th-October-2008

The original article seems to be gone. I found 2 references on that article, luckily one posted the text in another forum:

Men victims of sexual harrassment

Men were more likely to be sexually harassed in the workplace than women, according to new academic research.

Behavioural scientists Dr Don Hine and Roberta Martin from the University of New England also found that men had greater difficulty coping with sexual harassment and were more likely to quit their job because of it than women.

The academics based their research on a questionnaire participants filled out anonymously that asked if they had been sexually harassed in the past year. It also asked participants to describe the type of the harassment they were subjected to. Participants were not asked the gender of the person who had harassed them.

"We found 88.7 per cent of males had experienced a form of sexual harassment in the past year compared to 82.5 per cent of females," Dr Hine said.

"What we found is that for both males and females, sexual harassment was associated with increased levels of psychological distress and decreased levels of job satisfaction," he said.

"However, sexual harassment is associated with increased intentions to quit one's jobs for males only. Men also neglect workplace tasks where females don't," Dr Hine said.

"Females may be coping better with sexual harassment in the workplace that males are but I would suggest most of the interventions put into place focus on sexual harassment of women."

Dr Hines said that women were probably more likely to discuss the harassment with their support network where men could fear ridicule if they mentioned the harassment to friends.

"I think sexual harassment of men in the workplace is something that has been overlooked," Dr Hine said.

"Sexual harassment is definitely a problem for both men and women but given our findings there should be a shift in focus to ensure men are adequately prepared to deal with this sort of stress in the workplace," said Dr Hine.

He said employees and managers of both genders also needed to be educated about what constituted sexual harassment, inappropriate comments and offensive behaviour.

The New England University research divided sexual harassment into three types.

? The first type involved being the butt of sexist jokes or the subject of inappropriate comments about physical appearance or offensive remarks about gender stereotypes.

? The second type involved unwanted sexual attention, being stared at in a way that caused discomfort, inappropriate touching and being romantically pursued despite actively discouraging the pursuer.

? The third type was the most serious and involved sexual coercion either in the form of being promised an job-related advantage in exchange for a sexual favour or being threatened in some work-related way if that sexual favour was not granted.

Dr Hine said the research found less than three per cent of participants were subjected to the most serious form of harassment and women were still more likely to be the victims than men.

The academics will present their research tomorrow at the 39th Australian Psychological Society Conference currently being held in Sydney.
Kate Southam, careerone.com.au, September 30, 2004.

http://www.forum.dadsontheair.com/viewtopic.php?t=1110

**Stan** · 15th-October-2008

A male friend who works in IT in a school system was sexually harassed by a female. But instead the female teacher sued the school and named him. Guess who had to leave the position with a day's notice? The man.

**Marx** · 15th-October-2008

I got called into the office at a factory job I held. I worked on a machine between two women, one in her 50s and one in her 30s (I was in my 20s).
We all three got on quite well and the woman in her 50s used to give me a lift into work. The 30s woman often told 'rude' jokes, and so I reciprocated.

The joke that got me into trouble was a reference to a scrotum sack. Despite that she had told just as vulgar jokes meant nothing. She made a complaint.

So while I was in the office, I told our boss it was a two-way thing. He seemed to acknowledge what I was saying as he also had words with her after.

I just stopped talking to her after that though.

**Feckless** · 15th-October-2008

Quote from Marx

I got called into the office at a factory job I held. I worked on a machine between two women, one in her 50s and one in her 30s (I was in my 20s).
We all three got on quite well and the woman in her 50s used to give me a lift into work. The 30s woman often told 'rude' jokes, and so I reciprocated.

The joke that got me into trouble was a reference to a scrotum sack. Despite that she had told just as vulgar jokes meant nothing. She made a complaint.

So while I was in the office, I told our boss it was a two-way thing. He seemed to acknowledge what I was saying as he also had words with her after.

I just stopped talking to her after that though.

This is sth I noticed as well. Some people just don´t see the big picture. When other act excactly like them they don´t see the bias. The general victim status that this society applies to females doesn´t make this any better. Somehow common sense got lost on the way.

A few days ago I had a little argument with my wife which fits in the "It ain't what you say but the way that you say it"-category. Atm we have to eat separate suppers so one can keep little Laura busy (always awake at night definately no morning person). So I was eating and she was not nicely asking why it takes me so long. I returned the favor by talking to her in the except same tone. Which made her complain why I talk to her that way. So I asked her if she was talking in a nice tone to me before and she could just appologize. I see this very often. People have a standard on what other people should do etc. but fail to meet their very own standard they put up in the first place. Reminds me of the "All rights, no responsibilities" style.