A Literature Review on the Effects of Sexual Harassment on Women

This literature review explores the pervasive issue of female sexual harassment, drawing upon various secondary sources to analyze its impact. It highlights how women are often viewed as subordinate and subjected to domination, leading to sexual harassment in various contexts, including bars, workplaces, and educational institutions. The review covers topics such as the male tendency to dominate, personality traits associated with harassment, historical perspectives, and the psychological consequences for women, including eating disorders and suicidal thoughts. The conclusion emphasizes the continued prevalence of sexual harassment and the need for women to speak out against it, advocating for increased awareness and responsible citizenship to combat this violation of rights. Desklib provides access to this and other solved assignments for students.

Running head: FEMALE SEXUAL HARASSMENT
Female Sexual Harassment
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1FEMALE SEXUAL HARASSMENT
Introduction
The violation of the dignity of the female gender has been in existence since times
immemorial. The male gender has invariably often considered the female population to be
subordinated to them mainly because of their passive nature (Hosken, Alonzo & Wedell, 2016).
Women are inherently more submissive like and are gentler than the male gender. They tend to
be emotional while the men of the world are more logical in their outlook of life. Instead of this
being the greatest strength of women where they can perceive things in a more comprehensive
manner and in a more humane like nature, it has been taken to be the greatest weakness of the
women population (Haruna et al., 2016). The male gender exercise their power and strength on
their females solely on the basis of the fact that the women are less likely to revolt or voice their
protest against any kind of domination. This research proposal seeks to analyze the impact of
sexual harassment on the female population with the help of several secondary sources.
Literature Review
The article entitled “When women do not want it: Young female bargoers’ experiences
with and responses to sexual harassment in social drinking contexts” written by Graham et al.
(2017), have analyzed the feedback given by the female population who goes to the bar.
According to the feedback received it has been found out that around seventy five percent of the
female population who goes to the bar are sexually harassed. The main reason attributed by the
women are that the male gender tries to take advantage of the provocative dressing of the female
population and believe that they ‘want’ to be harassed.
According to the authors Gomez‐Llano, Bensch, and Svensson (2018), in the article titled
“Sexual conflict and ecology: Species composition and male density interact to reduce male

2FEMALE SEXUAL HARASSMENT
mating harassment and increase female survival” talks about the inherent nature of the male
gender to dominate the female population. The authors analyze the fundamental genetic unit of
the male gender and in the article, they have written that it is the nature of the male species to
dominate over the female gender and arise as the only powerful entity in the human society.
In the article “The dark triad and sexual harassment proclivity” written by Zeigler-Hill et
al (2016), the authors believe that the male tendency to super impose on the female gender is
based on three of the personality traits that can be perceived within the male genders. These
personality traits include that of the aspects of Machiavellianism, psychopathy and narcissism.
This article analyses the inherent characteristics of the male gender based on these three
personality traits and believe that these aspects play a significant role in their dominating nature.
It is because of this that they feel that they can dominate themselves over the female gender as
the females are less likely to have any of these three personality traits.
In the article entitled “When sexism cuts both ways: Predictors of tolerance of sexual
harassment of men” the authors Russell and Oswald (2016), have stated that there is a tendency
to sexually harass the women as this has been done by the male genders since times immemorial.
This article talks about the historical concept of sexual harassment. According to the sexual
harassment attitude scale, the various indicators of sexual harassment include the benevolence
attitude of the females towards the men, myths about the sexism of the female gender and the
general hostile behavior of the male gender.
In the article “Still second class: Sexual harassment of graduate students” the authors
Rosenthal, Smidt and Freyd (2016), had surveyed several graduate students and had asked them
about the sexual harassment they had experienced. According to the survey, nearly sixty percent
of the female genders had being sexually assaulted by other students and the faculty. This article

3FEMALE SEXUAL HARASSMENT
tries to analyze the extent of sexual harassment even in such higher forms of educational
institutions which are supposedly the abode of knowledge and enlightenment.
In the article “Peer sexual harassment in adolescence: Dimensions of the Sexual
Harassment Survey in boys and girls” written by the authors Vega-Gea, Ortega-Ruiz and
Sánchez (2016), have analyzed the issue of sexual harassment among the adolescent girls.
Women, from a very early age are being sexual harassed and as a result, they are not safe from
the male gender right from their birth. The implications of sexual harassment on such young girls
are traumatizing and they are often left scarred in their emotional mind.
The article entitled “Retaining employees through anti–sexual harassment practices: Exploring
the mediating role of psychological distress and employee engagement” written by Jiang et al
(2015), talks about the prevalence of sexual harassment in the work place and in the private
sectors. The authors have analyzed the impact of such activities on the motivations of the
concerned female population to stay in the organization and their commitment towards their
work. It has been found out that women are less likely to stay in places where they are made to
feel less human.
According to the authors Romito et al (2016) in the article entitled “Disordered eating
behaviors and sexual harassment in Italian male and female university students” there is a
positive correlation between sexual harassment and eating disorders among the female
population. The authors surveyed the female population in a university in Italy and found out that
those female who are being sexually harassed are often traumatized to such an extent that they
refuse to eat and give up all hopes of living, often degrading themselves to self-harm.

4FEMALE SEXUAL HARASSMENT
In the article titled “Labeling sexual victimization experiences: The role of sexism, rape
myth acceptance, and tolerance for sexual harassment” the authors LeMaire, Oswald and Russell
(2016), have done a survey among the female population attending college to understand the
definition of ‘rape’ According to seventy one percent of the female population surveyed, it has
been found out that they have been ‘raped’ at least once in their life time. Such an attitude exist
to differentiate between sexual harassment and rape is because of the historical implications of
sexual harassment and the myths attached to it. Some women accept such heinous activities
because of the past experiences by the other women of the world and consider it to be ‘normal’.
In the article “Sexual harassment: Undermining the wellbeing of working women” the
authors Holland and Cortina (2016), have analyzed the impact of sexual harassment on the
mental and psychological aspect of the female population. According to the article, incidents of
sexual harassment are life threatening as many women are unable to come to terms with the
violation of their bodies by the other gender forcefully. This impacts there psyche to such an
extent that they often become suicidal.
Conclusion
In conclusion it is observed that sexual harassment is still much a common phenomenon
in the contemporary globalized world of today (Madan & Nalla, 2016). The analysis of the above
literature review shows that the benefits of education is supposed to percolate down at the
individual level, making the people aware about their rights and freedoms and making them
more aware and responsible citizens of the world (Maass & Cadinu, 2016). However, the
existence of such mentality has made it quite difficult for the human race to achieve its true
progress. The women population are harassed simply because of the inherent characteristic of the
male gender to dominate over the ‘weaker’ gender because of the way they behave (Barth et al.,

5FEMALE SEXUAL HARASSMENT
2016). Thus, there is an immediate need for the female population to speak out against such
violation of their rights.
References:
Barth, S. K., Kimerling, R. E., Pavao, J., McCutcheon, S. J., Batten, S. V., Dursa, E., ... &
Schneiderman, A. I. (2016). Military sexual trauma among recent veterans: Correlates of
sexual assault and sexual harassment. American journal of preventive medicine, 50(1),
77-86.
Gomez‐Llano, M. A., Bensch, H. M., & Svensson, E. I. (2018). Sexual conflict and ecology:
Species composition and male density interact to reduce male mating harassment and
increase female survival. Evolution, 72(4), 906-915.
Graham, K., Bernards, S., Abbey, A., Dumas, T. M., & Wells, S. (2017). When women do not
want it: Young female bargoers’ experiences with and responses to sexual harassment in
social drinking contexts. Violence against women, 23(12), 1419-1441.
Haruna, I., Joseph, A., Samson, A., & Aye Gabriel, A. (2016). Analysis of the Causes and
Effects of Sexual Harassment on the Performance of Female Employees in Some
Selected Organizations in Kogi State, Nigeria. International Journal of Democratic and
Development Studies, 2(2), 31-39.
Holland, K. J., & Cortina, L. M. (2016). Sexual harassment: Undermining the wellbeing of
working women. In Handbook on well-being of working women (pp. 83-101). Springer,
Dordrecht.
Hosken, D. J., Alonzo, S. H., & Wedell, N. (2016). Why aren’t signals of female quality more
common?.

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Jiang, K., Hong, Y., McKay, P. F., Avery, D. R., Wilson, D. C., & Volpone, S. D. (2015).
Retaining employees through anti–sexual harassment practices: Exploring the mediating
role of psychological distress and employee engagement. Human Resource
Management, 54(1), 1-21.
LeMaire, K. L., Oswald, D. L., & Russell, B. L. (2016). Labeling sexual victimization
experiences: The role of sexism, rape myth acceptance, and tolerance for sexual
harassment. Violence and victims, 31(2), 332-346.
Maass, A., & Cadinu, M. R. (2016). Protecting a threatened identity through sexual harassment:
A social identity interpretation. In Social Identities (pp. 109-132). Psychology Press.
Madan, M., & Nalla, M. K. (2016). Sexual harassment in public spaces: Examining gender
differences in perceived seriousness and victimization. International Criminal Justice
Review, 26(2), 80-97.
Romito, P., Cedolin, C., Bastiani, F., & Saurel-Cubizolles, M. J. (2016). Disordered eating
behaviors and sexual harassment in Italian male and female university students. Journal
of interpersonal violence, 0886260516664315.
Rosenthal, M. N., Smidt, A. M., & Freyd, J. J. (2016). Still second class: Sexual harassment of
graduate students. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 40(3), 364-377.
Russell, B. L., & Oswald, D. (2016). When sexism cuts both ways: Predictors of tolerance of
sexual harassment of men. Men and Masculinities, 19(5), 524-544.

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Vega-Gea, E., Ortega-Ruiz, R., & Sánchez, V. (2016). Peer sexual harassment in adolescence:
Dimensions of the Sexual Harassment Survey in boys and girls. International Journal of
Clinical and Health Psychology, 16(1), 47-57.
Zeigler-Hill, V., Besser, A., Morag, J., & Campbell, W. K. (2016). The dark triad and sexual
harassment proclivity. Personality and Individual Differences, 89, 47-54.