Sexual Harassment on a University Campus: The Confluence of Authority Relations, Sexual Interest and Gender Stratification

We examine experiences of sexual harassment reported by a random sample of undergraduate women at a major U.S. campus, Berkeley. Thirty percent reported having received unwanted sexual attention from at least one male instructor during their four years at college. Two general patterns emerge: Women carefully monitor and try to avoid new instructors who harass them. But when harassment occurs in more established student, teacher relationships, women often lose their academic self-confidence and become disillusioned with male faculty. We argue that the prevalence of sexual harassment has the cumulative effect of eroding women's commitment to careers in male-dominated areas.