Perceptions and attitudes to sexual harassment: an examination of sex differences and the sex composition of the harasser–target dyad

This study examines the role of sex in determining attitudes toward sexual harassment ( SH ) and perceptions of SH , and studies the extent to which attitudes toward SH predict perceptions of SH by sex. All informants (146 men and 160 women) completed three questionnaires: personal information; perceptions of SH , including cases with variations on the perpetrators and victims' sex; and attitudes toward SH , with a male, female, or unspecified victim. The findings point to significant sex differences in the perception of behaviors as SH . Women were less tolerant of SH regardless of the victim's sex. In all cases, less tolerant attitudes toward SH predicted a stronger perception of behaviors as manifesting SH . In addition, women tended to perceive male harasser/male target behaviors as SH more than men.