They may stake out (or defend) their territory by telling sexually explicit jokes or by putting up pornographic materials (hostile working environment). Tokens may be tolerated, but when real change appears to be occurring, resistance may emerge. One hypothesis in the social sciences is that as contact increases between groups, understanding may increase. Harlan and […]

Any discussion of masculinity at some point introduces the concept of patriarchy and asks to what extent male behavior is linked to the pre­rogatives men receive or try to capture simply because they are men (Con­nell, 1987; MacKinnon, 1979). Some men harass women who are in environments that they would like to maintain as male […]

Some men see themselves as pursuers and appreciators of women; they define virtually all female subordinates as sexual objects. Various relation­ships attributed to President Clinton cast him as a man who sees women subordinates as sexual objects. Seducers may focus on one female subor­dinate at a time (e. g., the newest one in the setting), […]

The male sexual script dominant in American culture dovetails with the need to continually establish sexual competence as masculine (Tiefer, 1986). Men who engage in sexual harassment may justify their behaviors by drawing on aspects of traditional male sexual scripts. The centrality of sexuality in cultural constructions of masculinity combined with a sense of entitlement […]

Sexual scripts are maintained by processes that psychologists and so­ciologists variously describe as social learning, socialization, and social exchange. Those who deviate from culturally dominant sexual scripts en­counter sanctions or punishments, whereas those who adopt gender schema in accord with dominant sexual scripts (Bern, 1981) may receive benefits such as social approval. Gender schema theory […]

Researchers suggest that basic elements of sexual scripts are learned in childhood and that these may form the basis for more frankly outright sexual encounters (Thome &. Luria, 1986). Sexual scripts are constructed from social norms and previous social interaction. Social norms include societal expectations or rules, some of which prescribe certain behaviors for people […]

Examination of the sexual scripts women and men carry with them in various settings is essential for understanding the dynamics at work in social interaction episodes, and, in particular, interactions that constitute sexual harassment. The concept of scripts emphasizes the cognitive, learned, and social features of sexuality. Sexual scripts are blueprints that guide behaviors and […]

The inclusion of the term unwanted in most formal definitions of sexual harassment is reflective of the norms of social conduct in American society. By the insertion of a single word, women are made to bear the burden of monitoring their own behaviors and feelings and those of their male cohorts. Further, women may be […]

Feminists argue that to a large extent what appear to be gender dif­ferences in personal style and interpersonal relations may be explained largely on the basis of differences in status or power that are embedded in gender (Hyde, 1995; Unger & Crawford, 1996). For example, experimental studies have demonstrated that what is colloquially understood as […]

What people take for granted and what they negotiate in their in­teractions, as well as how they perceive their interaction outcomes, has been the subject of considerable study in social psychology. Women and men may interact with each other and perceive that interaction quite dif­ferently. For example, in interviews with married couples, Jessie Bernard (1972) […]