Influencia del sexismo, el rol sexual y el sexo sobre percepción del acoso callejero

Abstract

El acoso callejero es una forma frecuente de violencia que ha sido poco estudiada, encontrándose escasa claridad en los factores psicosociales que pudieran ser determinantes de la percepción de este tipo de acoso. El objetivo de la investigación consistió en analizar la influencia del sexismo, el rol sexual y el sexo del observador, sobre la percepción del acoso callejero, mediante un análisis de ruta. Se usó una muestra no probabilística de 262 estudiantes (193 mujeres y 69 hombres) de universidades venezolanas, con edades comprendidas entre los 16 y los 27 años. La percepción de acoso se dividió en dos dimensiones: atribución de responsabilidad a la víctima por el acoso y la percepción de gravedad del acto. Se encontró que la atribución de responsabilidad a la víctima por el acoso y la percepción de gravedad del acoso callejero son influenciadas directamente por el sexismo hostil y el benevolente, así como por el rol sexual masculino. Un mayor sexismo conlleva a mayor atribución de culpa al acosado y menor percepción de gravedad de este tipo de acoso. El rol masculino se asocia, por el contrario, con menor atribución de culpa y mayor percepción de gravedad. Resaltan los efectos indirectos del sexo y el rol sexual masculino sobre las dimensiones de percepción del acoso callejero. Los resultados muestran que el mayor peso predictivo y explicativo de la atribución de causa a la víctima y percepción de gravedad del acoso callejero se deben a las actitudes sexistas de los individuos que realizan dicha atribución.

Street Sexual Harassment: Experiences and Attitudes among Young Spanish People

“…It should be noted that an important type of tool available for analyzing SSH is sociological-based surveys [ 28 , 33 , 38 ]; therefore, the availability of a questionnaire suitable for this purpose could be very useful for research on the topic. Moreover, although some related studies [ 18 , 34 , 39 ] report evaluate attitudes and beliefs regarding SSH using questionnaires, a review of their content and contributions showed different objectives (such as to determine which components of SSH are perceived by women who have experienced them, or to estimate the frequency of SSH), and demonstrated they were developed in different cultural contexts outside of Spain (such as Venezuela, Paraguay or Peru). In this sense, the results regarding the adequacy of the Questionnaire of Attitudes towards “piropos” are not only promising in this study but also suggest its applicability in future studies on attitudes towards this type of SSH situation performed in Spain.…”

“…Regarding the effects of gender on the perception of the violence experienced, we emphasize that the results described in the literature on this topic are contradictory. While some studies have indicated the existence of a direct effect, whereby women would identify more types of behavior as forms of VAW (i.e., [ 53 , 57 ]), other studies indicate that gender itself does not have a direct effect, although an indirect effect, mediated by factors such as the role of gender and/or sexism, seem to exist [ 18 , 54 ]. The results found by Vallejo and Rivarola [ 15 ] provide a complementary explanation, noting a gradient in the perception, tolerance, and justification of SSH whereby, although the majority of women consider behaviors such as leering, catcalls, kissing sounds, or other comments to cause general unease, these behaviors are only identified as actual violence when they involve specific a sexual reference.…”

“…As an example, Bowman [ 8 ] defined SSH as “ sexual harassment against women in public spaces made by unknown men ” (p. 51), and, more recently, SSH has been defined as “ unwanted comments, gestures, or actions forced on a stranger in a public space without their consent, directed at them because of their actual or perceived sex, gender, gender expression, or sexual orientation ” [ 17 ]. In general, all of these definitions include certain common dimensions that allow SSH to be characterized in the following way [ 2 , 3 , 6 , 8 , 10 , 16 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ]: Harassment occurs in a public or semi-public space (street, public transport) and is contextualized by a face-to-face interaction between two unknown people, that is, people who share no stable, long-term or safe connection. Even though stalking, as Lopez [ 2 ] points out, is also a type of SSH, this type of violence tends to occur within a brief or even fleeting interaction (which not only constitutes one of its main characteristics, but also differentiates it from other forms of violence, such as sexual harassment in the workplace or academic environment).…”

“…It is worth noting that incidence studies use different types of tools, with a predominance of sociological-based surveys, (i.e., [ 28 , 33 , 38 ]), although some questionnaires have been developed for this purpose (i.e., [ 18 , 34 , 39 , 40 ]).…”

“…These attitudes may be influenced by different factors, including the victim’s, or even the harasser’s, sociodemographic characteristics or the effects of the context or of sexism [ 18 , 38 , 51 , 52 ]. This is why, for example, the fact that SSH is primarily endured by women could have a direct (greater perception of this violence by women) (i.e., [ 53 ]) or indirect (mediated by the gender role and/or sexism) (i.e., [ 18 , 54 ] effect on the perception of the violence endured by the victim.…”