Empirical Distinctions Between the 'Reasonable Person' Standard and 'Reasonable Woman' Standard in Evaluating Sexual Harassment Cases

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9512792 Wiener The productivity and well-being of the American workforce is much affected by hostile work environments that encourage or actually constitute sexual harassment The legal standards used to judge what constitutes a hostile work environment remain controversial. This study will study the differences in the normative expectations of male and female workers about social-sexual conduct at work and how the law might accommodate such differences. It pursues its goal through three studies. Study I combines qualitative and quantitative methods to map the cognitive schemes used by males and females to think about sexual harassment. Study II extends the P.I.'s previous research testing the effects of gender, identification with victim or perpetrator, and self-referencing on sensitivity to reasonable person/woman perspectives. Study III seeks to increase participant sensitivity by presenting them with facts about male and female perceptions of sexual harassment. The results of the project should advance our understanding of the reality of sexual harassment in the work place by describing the normative boundaries (community standards?) of social-sexual misconduct that the law might recognize. %%%% The productivity and well-being of the American workforce is much affected by hostile work environments that encourage or actually constitute sexual harassment The legal standards used to judge what constitutes a hostile work environment remain controversial. This study will study the differences in the normative expectations of male and female workers about social-sexual conduct at work and how the law might accommodate such differences. It pursues its goal through three studies. Study I combines qualitative and quantitative methods to map the cognitive schemes used by males and females to think about sexual harassment. Study II extends the P.I.'s previous research testing the effects of gender, identification with victim or perpetrator, and self-referencing on sensitivity to reason able person/woman perspectives. Study III seeks to increase participant sensitivity by presenting them with facts about male and female perceptions of sexual harassment. The results of the project should advance our understanding of the reality of sexual harassment in the work place by describing the normative boundaries (community standards?) of social-sexual misconduct that the law might recognize. ****