Sexual Harassment Severity Dimensions and Gender

• In Event: Sociology of Sex and Gender Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 15. Violence: Framing, Interpretation, and Advocacy

Abstract

Severity is a core element of the legal standard for evaluating workplace sexual harassment; sexual harassment severity also influences individuals outcomes related to health and workplace satisfaction. This study investigates how individuals evaluate the severity of their own sexual harassment experiences, and whether these vary by gender identity. This study draws on survey data from 1,020 U.S. respondents collected via Prolific in 2024, and applies multinomial logistic regression and computational content analysis (LDA and STM) to analyze open-ended descriptions of respondents’ most impactful sexual harassment experiences. The sample also includes a significant proportion of transgender and nonbinary people, a minoritized group whose perceptions of sexual harassment severity has been understudied. Findings show that that perceived severity varies meaningfully by gender identity, challenging the assumption that severity follows a universal hierarchy based on harassment type. Notably, cisgender women were more likely to identify unwanted sexual attention as their most impactful experience, while transgender women more often chose gender-based hostility. The study contributes the sociological understanding of sexual harassment by centering individual meaning-making processes and by expanding the conversation beyond cisgender experiences.

Author

• Mariana Nozela Prado, University of Wisconsin-Madison