Who supports #MeToo and the Kavanaugh confirmation? Exploring tolerance for sexual harassment among young adults

Abstract

Young adults have become increasingly involved in political and social movements around sexual harassment. This involvement likely reflects political identity as well ideological beliefs about sexual harassment. We examined how young adults’ ideological beliefs and political party identity are associated with their tolerance of sexual harassment, support for the #MeToo movement and the confirmation of Justice Kavanaugh. Tolerance for sexual harassment was positively associated with endorsement of rape myth acceptance, hostile and benevolent sexism, and was negatively associated with feminist identity, but not associated with gender or political party identity. In contrast, political party identity played an increasingly important role in predicting support for the #MeToo movement and the confirmation of Justice Kavanaugh, such that those who strongly identify as Republican were more likely to support Justice Kavanaugh and not support the #MeToo movement. These findings suggest the #MeToo movement, and the confirmation decision are not perceived as entirely about sexual harassment but increasingly as political issues. Therefore, sexual harassment workplace or university trainings should consider addressing ideological factors. Additionally, in order for anti‐sexual harassment laws to be supported by people of all political parties, it is important to frame the issue as nonpolitical.

Developmental changes in young people's evaluations of sexual harassment

“…Sexual harassment (SH) is and has been a pervasive social issue in the United States. While not a new issue, recent events such as the broader recognition and social media spread of the #MeToo movement, the Brett Cavanaugh confirmation hearings, and the resignation of Anthony Cuomo have catapulted SH into public discourse in ways we have not seen before (Crowley et al., 2018; Oswald & Herrera Hernandez, 2023). The increased attention to SH in public discourse has also made more evident the range of attitudes and beliefs about this type of harassment within society (e.g., when these behaviors are wrong or harmful; if and how to hold people accountable for their actions).…”

What have we learned about sexual harassment among young people? Concluding reflections

“…In their scoping review, Bolduc et al (2022) put the spotlight on how the sexual harassment research field is marked by heterogeneity in terms of theoretical perspectives, and how this heterogeneity in turn influences what types of correlates empirical studies focus on. Several of the correlates proposed within different theoretical frameworks are also reflected by the papers published in this special issue, for example, minority status, pubertal development, and norms and attitudes (Erentzen et al, 2022;Herrera Hernandez & Oswald, 2022;Honkatukia et al, 2022;Horn & Poteat, 2022;Li et al, 2022;Ormerod et al, 2022;Ringrose & Regehr, 2023;Skoog & Kapetanovic, 2022). As noted by Bolduc and colleagues, more seldomly have research studies integrated the established correlates of sexual harassment within the same study.…”

“…More tolerant attitudes were also held during times when sexual harassment was more frequent, indicating that these actions were then more justified in young people's attitudes. Further, Herrera Hernandez and Oswald (2022) found that young people's tolerance of sexual harassment was associated with more endorsement of rape myth acceptance and sexism, indicating that tolerance of sexual harassment is tied to tolerance of gender inequality and sexual violence more generally. Targeting young people's attitudes toward sexual harassment, or their attitudes toward sexual aggression more broadly, could be one way to address the problem of sexual harassment among young people.…”

“…At the macrolevel, this special issue also showed how discussions about political events occurring at the national level interplay with young people's views about sexual harassment. Moving to U.S. society, Herrera Hernandez and Oswald (2022) examined young people's attitudes toward the confirmation of Judge Kavanaugh (alleged for sexual assault) for the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 and how these attitudes associated with their attitudes toward sexual harassment. It was found that more accepting attitudes toward the confirmation of Judge Kavanaugh was associated with more accepting attitudes toward sexual harassment.…”

“…Innovative and creative research designs is also a common denominator for several of the studies in this special issue, for example, art‐based methods (Ringrose & Regehr, 2023), the use of vignettes to shed light on adolescents’ perceptions of sexual harassment (Kruger et al., 2022), the analyses of developmental processes both within‐ and between individuals (Skoog & Kapetanovic, 2022), and the merging between school policies and what is reported by students in school (Brown et al., 2022). There were also studies situating sexual harassment within its historical and political contexts in novel ways (Herrera Hernandez & Oswald, 2022; Stein & Taylor, 2022). Through Ringrose and Regehr's (2023) and Kruger et al.’s (2022) studies, which were both designed to elicit adolescents’ own reflections, we are given close access to young people's own views of sexual harassment.…”