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Men who pick women for being sexually harassed are more probable to be harassers themselves , a Modern subject of college students finds .
The findings are a ratification of what social scientist had anticipate , said study researcher Colin Key , a psychologist at the University of Tennessee , Martin . But the results could help explain why some environs seem tofoster intimate harassment , Key read .
" There are some toxic work environments where males dominate , and there is a acculturation that lets them hire in this action and then get away with it , " primal to LiveScience . Hopefully , this just adds to the knowledge that we need to target the whole system sometimes and not just these men . "
Key and his co - author Robert Ridge published the finding online April 1 in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships .
Harassers and victim - blamers
Even subtle sexual harassment can harm a char ’s carrying out on the job . In one study , woman who wereogled by mendid worse on a math labor .
Key wanted to understand not just why intimate harassment come about , but why many people are uncoerced to excuse it . He turned to a psychological theory called " justificatory attribution . " In layperson ’s terms , this possibility suggests that citizenry will prove to protect themselves from blame in a give situation . If justificatory attribution explains men ’s propensity to charge the dupe , Key theorize , victim - blaming gentleman’s gentleman should be the ones most likely to dread blame themselves — in other discussion , likely harasser .
Self - security
To essay the theory , Key and Ridge call for 119 college man , ranging in years from 18 to 28 , to take a survey evaluate how likely work force are to sexually harass women . The study does n’t ask men at once whether they harass womanhood , but rather require about attitudesassociated with molestation , such as whether women apply sex to their advantage or are flattered by sexual advance , Key sound out .
Next , the humankind learn eight short vignettes about instances of sexual molestation . In one , a male restaurant server tells his female coworker that her hint would be higher if she ’d show more skin . The study player were then ask how likely it was that they would be in the skid of the serviceman in each vignette and how much the fictional valet and their victims were to pick for the torment .
Unsurprisingly , the men with a eminent proclivity toward intimate molestation , as rated from the initial survey , said they felt more similar to the fictional harassers . They were also less probable to blame the harrier for his behaviors and more likely to blame the victim . That fits with the ego - trade protection theory , Key said .
The men ’s attitude seemed to be , " I might do that variety of thing and I do n’t need to get in difficulty , " Key said .
Red flag
Only college student were analyse , Key and Ridge wrote , so further research require to be done to understand attitude in other age groups . Future studies should also investigate torment in contexts other than work , they drop a line .
But the current research should supply some comfortableness — and an early monition — to charwoman who have been sexually harassed and encountered victim - blaming , Key said .
" As a woman , when I get blamed , mayhap I should n’t give a crap about what that guy reckon , " Key said . " Because maybe he ’s the kind of guy who would do this to me , too . "
you may followLiveSciencesenior author Stephanie Pappas on Twitter@sipappas .
