Because God Said so: Religious Facets of Sexual and Gender Harassment in Christian Academia

Abstract

The present study explored experiences of sexism (sexual and gender harassment) in a Christian university student population. This study assessed the frequency of sexism, documented how sexism is expressed in a Christian context, and evaluated the relationships between sexism and two outcomes, campus climate and college satisfaction. Additionally, it was hypothesized that attribution of gender harassment to the perpetrator's religious belief system would potentiate the negative effects of harassment. 187 female students completed an online questionnaire, including the Sexual Experiences Questionnaire—Short Form (SEQ), the General Campus Climate Scale (GCCS), and the MMPI-2 College Maladjustment Scale (CMS). Results indicated very low rates of sexual harassment. Also, religious attributions for gender harassment had a significantly negative relationship with the outcome variables although they did not moderate these outcomes. Qualitative descriptions of students’ experiences with gender harassment were recorded, shedding light on what gender harassing behaviors look like in Christian academia.

Divine Discrimination: Gender Harassment and Christian Justification

“…In other words, being told that women are better suited for raising children than being in the workforce for religious reasons may not have a nuanced impact when you are currently a woman who is less likely to be a parent or working full-time. A cursory glance at the GEQ data from this study corroborates the results from Eliason, Hall, and Anderson (2012), suggesting that college women do not experience pervasive significant Christian-motivated gender harassment. However, upon closer examination we see that college women do experience significant Christian-motivated harassment; it is just a different kind of Christian-motivated harassment unique to their social and developmental contexts.…”

“…Findings indicated low reports of sexual harassment, but that gender harassment was experienced by 97% of participants (Eliason, Hall, & Anderson, 2012, p. 349). While the attribution of the harassment to Christian belief was not found to have a significant moderating effect on the experience as was the case in the previously discussed study, the researchers did identify that gender harassment independently contributed to negative campus climate and poor college adjustment (Eliason, Hall, & Anderson, 2012).…”

“…Religious attribution. An adapted procedure from Hall, Christerson, and Cunningham (2010) and Eliason, Hall and Anderson (2012) was used to capture data regarding Christian attribution for harassment: if the participant reported any level of harassment (i.e., a response other than "Never" for any of the GEQ items), participants were asked, "Do you perceive that those who engaged in the behavior were motivated by their Christian/Catholic beliefs?" College adjustment.…”

“…As Lim and Cortina (2005) conclude, "gender harassment, being hostile but nonsexual, should remain a separate construct that is correlated" with unwanted sexual attention and sexual coercion (p. 484). In fact, gender harassment has been found to be more common than sexual coercion and unwanted sexual attention in both workplace and academic populations (Eliason, Hall, & Anderson, 2012;Fitzgerald, et al, 1988;Huerta, Cortina, Pang, Torges, & Magely, 2006;Leskinen, Cortina, & Kabat, 2011;Lim & Cortina, 2005;van Roosmalen & McDaniel, 1999).…”

“…In another study, Eliason, Hall, and Anderson (2012) explored the experiences of sexual and gender harassment in an Evangelical Christian university female student population. The study specifically looked at the frequency of harassment, kind of harassment, and the effects it had on female students' perceptions of campus climate and college satisfaction.…”