Graduate Women, Sexual Harassment, and University Policy

Sexual harassment during medical training: the perceptions of medical students at a university medical school in Australia

“…Because the interpretation of such behaviours is easily articulated into a misunderstanding, the harasser virtually neutralizes the power of the victim. As both engendered and workplace harassment are an accepted part of everyday social interaction they are ingrained and can easily be dismissed as jokes, compliments or harmless flirtations 14 . Sexist comments and sexualized innuendo are seldom recognised as sexual harassment.…”

Foucault, Politics and Organizations: (Re)‐Constructing Sexual Harassment

“…This harasser`immunity' is claimed to be greater in organizations where subordinates are dependent on their superiors' good will for favourable assessment, career progression, continued employment, and so on. For example, education (and higher education in particular) is identified as a breeding ground for harassment, given the high degree of dependency of students on staff members (Benson and Thomson 1982;Reilly et al 1982;Hoffman 1986;Schneider 1987;Bremer et al 1991;Fitzgerald et al 1988;Fitzgerald and Ormerod 1991;Barak et al 1992). Indeed, some of those who write about sexual harassment in education counsel that the only way to eradicate the problem is to introduce`anti-fraternization' policies, which define sexual relationships between staff and students as disciplinary offences on the part of the staff member involved (Schover et al 1983;Hoffman 1986;Schneider 1987).…”

“…This knowledge suggests that any form of intimacy could be considered sexual and, consequently, potentially upsetting. Commentators like Crocker (1983), Schneider (1987 and Stockdale (1991) point, for example, to the need to recognize non-physical behaviours like`blue' jokes, verbal advances or visual displays (page 3 girls, and so on) as potentially harassing. Sex, it is claimed, can be verbal and visual as well as physical Ð and therefore unwanted verbal comments and visual displays are deemed to be a possible source of offence.…”

“…Those involved in disseminating knowledge on sexual harassment appear to see themselves as building upon these events by exploring the dynamics of sexual harassment in the organization and generating recommendations for its removal. Their commentary on harassment seems to be intended to raise public consciousness so as to bring about a better, more egalitarian, organizational future (see, for example, MacKinnon 1979; Benson and Thomson 1982;Gutek and Morasch 1982;Schneider 1982Schneider , 1987Rubenstein 1991;Stockdale 1991;Gutek and Cohen 1992).…”

Sexual Harassment: A Problem Shielded by Silence

“…Studies surveying both undergraduate and graduate students have indicated that women graduate students are more at risk for sexual harassment than are undergraduate women. Of the graduate students in Schneider's (1987) survey, 60% were exposed to some form of everyday harassment by male faculty and 22% were asked on dates. Of McKinney, Olson, and Satterfield's (1988) sample, 35% were harassed, and 28% of those in Johnson and Shuman's (1983) survey were harassed.…”