To develop strategies for preventing sexual harassment, we must consider the links between sexual scripts and the dimensions underlying harassing behavior (consent, and power). Some women in corporations pursue individual solutions—trying to appear feminine enough to conform to others’ expectations of how women should behave and still be professional enough to be seen as appropriate organizational members (Gardner et al.,
1994) . Ultimately, individual solutions may lead to role entrapment; therefore, more general changes are needed.
Consent
Requiring Consent
Rather than consent being a diffuse agreement subject to interpretation, gaining consent with an interaction partner should include the act of asking and the opportunity for the partner to freely respond. The idea of gaining consent (especially in a romantic encounter), however, has not received favorable attention. Public ridicule followed Antioch College’s attempt to address consent in student-student relationships by requiring that permission be sought before a new level of intimacy was attempted. Resistance to seeking consent may occur in part because having to seek consent exposes myths of romantic love and seduction. These myths include the scenarios of the man seducing the woman who is unaware of his actions and the pair who get so carried away by passion that there is no opportunity to obtain consent.