Looking the other way: how ideology influences perceptions of sexual harassment

Abstract

Little research has systematically examined the relationship between ideology and perceptions of sexual harassment. Recognising differences in the way in which sexual harassment and assault were discussed on political programming and social media by partisans, we posed the following questions: (1) ‘Is there an ideological difference in perceptions of observed sexual harassment?’; and (2) ‘Is there also an ideological difference in perceptions of personally experienced sexual harassment?’ Using data from two studies, we find that conservatives are less likely than liberals to perceive and label both ambiguous and unambiguous situations as sexual harassment. Our third study – a survey of adult women – demonstrates that compared to liberal women, conservative women report significantly fewer instances of personally experienced gender discrimination and sexual harassment than liberal women. These results indicate that both observed and lived experiences of sexual harassment are linked to one’s ideological belief structures.<br/><br/>Key messages<br/>Conservatives are less likely than liberals to perceive and label both ambiguous and unambiguous workplace scenarios as sexual harassment.<br/><br/>Conservative women report significantly fewer instances of sexual harassment and gender discrimination than liberal women.<br/><br/>These findings have broad implications for policy support and political attitudes about gender discrimination and harassment.

Online Abuse of Politicians: Experimental Evidence on Politicians' own Perceptions

“…Recent studies have found that, at least in a US context, conservatives and liberals differ markedly in perceptions and judgments of sexism and sexual harassment. Conservative men and women are less likely than liberals to perceive and label both ambiguous and non-ambiguous situations as sexual harassment (Gothreau, Warren, and Schneider 2022). More generally, liberals consider sexual harassment as a significantly larger problem than conservatives do (Craig and Cossette 2022;van der Linden and Panagopoulos 2019).…”

“…However, the relationship between ideology and attitudes on sexist abuse may also be rooted in more fundamental differences between the political left and right. Across national and cultural contexts, conservatives tend to have higher levels of social dominance orientation than liberals (Jost et al 2003), and individuals high on this trait are less likely to label specific behaviors as sexual harassment (Gothreau, Warren, and Schneider 2022). We therefore test the following hypothesis: Hypothesis 2: Aversion to sexist messages is stronger among politicians on the political left than among politicians on the political right.…”

Linked Fate and Social Identity: Black and White Women’s Attitudes About Abortion and MeToo

“…More recently, some women have criticized the MeToo movement for having undermined women's individual responsibility in regulating sexual interactions, as well as for "going too far" in penalizing men for their natural urges (Archer and Kam 2020). Conservative women are also less willing than liberal women to identify both clear and ambiguous cases of sexual harassment as such (Gothreau, Warren, and Schneider 2022), indicating their likely lower support for MeToo activism.…”