Sexual harassment research typically focuses on White cisgender women. Are harassment targets who are not White cisgender women perceived similarly? In three preregistered studies, participants (Study 1: N = 442; Study 2: N = 2,088, nationally representative U.S. sample; Study 3: N = 577) read about a formal (Studies 1 and 2) or informal (Study 3) sexual harassment claim made by a woman whose gender identity (cisgender vs. transgender) and race (Black vs. White) varied. Details about the incident were redacted, and participants wrote about what they thought the harasser had done. These free-response data indicated that cisgender (vs. transgender) women were seen as more likely to have experienced unwanted references to appearance, unwanted sexual attention (in Studies 2 and 3), or unwanted romantic attention (especially if they were White). Transgender (vs. cisgender) women, regardless of race, were seen as more likely to have experienced gender harassment. The claimant's race had little systematic effect, suggesting that perceivers are less attentive to the potential impact of race (vs. gender identity) on sexual harassment. People's inferences about the types of sexual harassment that women are most likely to face can impact the support claimants may receive when they come forward with a sexual harassment claim. Additional online materials for this article are available on PWQ's website athttp://journals.sagepub.com/doi/suppl/10.1177/03616843241252658
AndersonJ. R.HollandE.HeldrethC.JohnsonS. P. (2018). Revisiting the Jezebel stereotype: The impact of target race on sexual objectification. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 42(4), 461–476. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684318791543
2.
AnzaniA.LindleyL.TognassoG.GalupoM. P.PrunasA. (2021). “Being talked to like I was a sex toy, like being transgender was simply for the enjoyment of someone else”: Fetishization and sexualization of transgender and nonbinary individuals. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 50(3), 897–911. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-01935-8
3.
AnzaniA.SiboniL.LindleyL.GalupoM. P.PrunasA. (2023). From abstinence to deviance: Sexual stereotypes associated with transgender and nonbinary individuals. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 21(1), 27–43. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-023-00842-y
BerdahlJ. L. (2007b). Harassment based on sex: Protecting social status in the context of gender hierarchy. Academy of Management Review, 32(2), 641–658. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2007.24351879
6.
BergmanM. E.LanghoutR. D.PalmieriP. A.CortinaL. M.FitzgeraldL. F. (2002). The (un)reasonableness of reporting: Antecedents and consequences of reporting sexual harassment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(2), 230–242. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.87.2.230
7.
BowlegL. (2008). When Black + lesbian + woman ≠ Black lesbian woman: The methodological challenges of qualitative and quantitative intersectionality research. Sex Roles, 59(5-6), 312–325. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-008-9400-z
8.
BrandhorstS. R.FergusonB.SebbyR. A.WeeksR. (2012). The influence of peer sexual activity upon college students’ sexual behavior. North American Journal of Psychology, 14(1), 111–122. link.gale.com/apps/doc/A281111795/AONE.
9.
BrasselS. T.SettlesI. H.BuchananN. T. (2019). Lay (mis)perceptions of sexual harassment toward transgender, lesbian, and gay employees. Sex Roles, 80(1-2), 76–90. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-018-0914-8
10.
BuchananN. T.FitzgeraldL. F. (2008). Effects of racial and sexual harassment on work and the psychological well-being of African American women. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 13(2), 137–151. https://doi.org/10.1037/1076-8998.13.2.137
11.
BuchananN. T.OrmerodA. J. (2002). Racialized sexual harassment in the lives of African American women. Women & Therapy, 25(3-4), 107–124. https://doi.org/10.1300/J015v25n03_08
12.
BuchananN. T.SettlesI. H.WuI. H. C.HayashinoD. S. (2018). Sexual harassment, racial harassment, and well-being among Asian American women: An intersectional approach. Women & Therapy, 41(3-4), 261–280. https://doi.org/10.1080/02703149.2018.1425030
CassinoD.Besen-CassinoY. (2019). Race, threat and workplace sexual harassment: The dynamics of harassment in the United States, 1997-2016. Gender, Work & Organization, 26(9), 1221–1240. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12394
16.
ColesS. M.PasekJ. (2020). Intersectional invisibility revisited: How group prototypes lead to the erasure and exclusion of Black women. Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 6(4), 314–324. https://doi.org/10.1037/tps0000256
17.
CortinaL. M.WastiS. A. (2005). Profile in coping: Responses to sexual harassment across persons, organizations, and cultures. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(1), 182–192. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.90.1.182
18.
DeskaJ. C.KunstmanJ.LloydE. P.AlmarazS. M.BernsteinM. J.GonzalesJ. P.HugenbergK. (2020). Race-based biases in judgments of social pain. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 88, 103964. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2020.103964
19.
DeSouzaE.SolbergJ. (2004). Women’s and men’s reactions to man-to-man sexual harassment: Does the sexual orientation of the victim matter?Sex Roles, 50(9-10), 623–639. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:SERS.0000027566.79507.96
20.
DiekmannK. A.Sillito WalkerS. D.GalinskyA. D.TenbrunselA. E. (2013). Double victimization in the workplace: Why observers condemn passive victims of sexual harassment. Organizational Science, 24(2), 614–628. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1120.0753
21.
DonovanR. A. (2011). Tough or tender: (Dis)similarities in White college students’ perceptions of Black and White women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 35(3), 458–468. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684311406874
FisherB. S.CullenF. T.TurnerM. G. (2000). The sexual victimization of college women: Research report. National Institute of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/182369.pdf
FitzgeraldL. F.DrasgowF.HulinC. L.GelfandM. J.MagleyV. J. (1997). Antecedents and consequences of sexual harassment in organizations: A test of an integrated model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82(4), 578–589. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.82.4.578
27.
FitzgeraldL. F.GelfandM. J.DrasgowF. (1995). Measuring sexual harassment: Theoretical and psychometric advances. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 17(4), 425–445. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15324834basp1704_2
28.
GalinskyA. D.HallE. V.CuddyA. J. C. (2013). Gendered races: Implications for interracial marriage, leadership selection, and athletic participation. Psychological Science, 24(4), 498–506. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612457783
29.
GallagherN. M.BodenhausenG. V. (2021). Gender essentialism and the mental representation of transgender women and men: A multimethod investigation of stereotype content. Cognition, 217, 104887. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104887
30.
GhavamiN.PeplauL. A. (2013). An intersectional analysis of gender and ethnic stereotypes: Testing three hypotheses. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 37(1), 113–127. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684312464203
31.
GoffP. A.ThomasM. A.JacksonM. C. (2008). “Ain’t I a woman?”: Towards an intersectional approach to person perception and group-based harms. Sex Roles, 59(5-6), 392–403. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-008-9505-4
32.
GohJ. X.Bandt-LawB.CheekN. N.SinclairS.KaiserC. R. (2022). Narrow prototypes and neglected victims: Understanding perceptions of sexual harassment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 122(5), 873–893. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000260
33.
GurungS.VentuneacA.RendinaH. J.SavareseE.GrovC.ParsonsJ. T. (2018). Prevalence of military sexual trauma and sexual orientation discrimination among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender military personnel: A descriptive study. Sexuality Research & Social Policy, 15(1), 74–82. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-017-0311-z
HartC. G. (2023). Is there an idealized target of sexual harassment in the MeToo era?Social Problems, spad016, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1093/socpro/spad016
36.
HeretickD. M. L.LearnI.HolmesJ. M. (2022). Helping responses by indirect bystanders of coercive sexual harassment in academia: Friendship status with source of information. Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences, 16(1), 306–330. https://doi.org/10.5590/JSBHS.2022.16.1.22
37.
HerreraA.HerreraM. C.ExpósitoF. (2016). Is the beautiful always so good? Influence of physical attractiveness on the social perception of sexual harassment. International Journal of Social Psychology, 31(2), 224–253. https://doi.org/10.1080/02134748.2016.1143179
38.
HoffmanK. M.TrawalterS. (2016). Assumptions about life hardship and pain perception. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 19(4), 493–508. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430215625781
39.
HollandK. J.CortinaL. M. (2013). When sexism and feminism collide: The sexual harassment of feminist working women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 37(2), 192–208. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684313482873
40.
HowanskyK.WiltonL. S.YoungD. M.AbramsS.ClaphamR. (2021). (Trans)gender stereotypes and the self: Content and consequences of gender identity stereotypes. Self and Identity, 20(4), 478–495. https://doi.org/10.1080/15298868.2019.1617191
41.
IvyD. K.HamletS. (1996). College students and sexual dynamics: Two studies of peer sexual harassment. Communication Education, 45(2), 149–166. https://doi.org/10.1080/03634529609379044
JohnsonK. L.FreemanJ. B.PaukerK. (2012). Race is gendered: How covarying phenotypes and stereotypes bias sex categorization. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102(1), 116–131. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025335
44.
Kabat-FarrD.CortinaL. M. (2014). Sex-based harassment in employment: New insights into gender and context. Law and Human Behavior, 38(1), 58–72. https://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000045
45.
KaiserC. R.Bandt-LawB.CheekN. N.SchachtmanR. (2022). Gender prototypes shape perceptions of and responses to sexual harassment. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 31(3), 254–261. https://doi.org/10.1177/09637214221078592
46.
KamalA.TariqN. (1997). Sexual harassment experience questionnaire for workplaces of Pakistan: Development and validation. Pakistan Journal of Psychological Research, 12(1-2), 1–20. link.gale.com/apps/doc/A260137161/HRCA.
47.
KaramiA.SwanS. C.WhiteC. N.FordK. (2024). Hidden in plain sight for too long: Using text mining techniques to shine a light on workplace sexism and sexual harassment. Psychology of Violence, 14(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1037/vio0000239
48.
KelleyE. L.GidyczC. A. (2020). Mediators of the relationship between sexual assault and sexual behaviors in college women. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 35(21-22), 4863–4886. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260517718188
49.
KleinL. B.MartinS. L. (2021). Sexual harassment of college and university students: A systematic review. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 22(4), 777–792. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838019881731
50.
KlysingA.Gustafsson SendénM.RenströmE.LindqvistA. (2023). Gendered stereotype content for people with a nonbinary gender identity [version 1; awaiting peer review]. Routledge Open Research, 2, 45. https://doi.org/10.12688/routledgeopenres.17976.1
51.
LeiR. F.LeshinR. A.MotyK.Foster-HansonE.RhodesM. (2022). How race and gender shape the development of social prototypes in the United States. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 151(8), 1956–1971. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001164
52.
LeskinenE. A.CortinaL. M.KabatD. B. (2011). Gender harassment: Broadening our understanding of sex-based harassment at work. Law and Human Behavior, 35(1), 25–39. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10979-010-9241-5
53.
LivingstonR. W.RosetteA. S.WashingtonE. F. (2012). Can an agentic black woman get ahead? The impact of race and interpersonal dominance on perceptions of female leaders. Psychological Science, 23(4), 354–358. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797611428079
MedinD. L.AltomM. W.MurphyT. D. (1984). Given versus induced category representations: Use of prototype and exemplar information in classification. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 10(3), 333–352. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.10.3.333
MezzapelleJ. L.ReimanA. (2022). How do people perceive sexual harassment targeting transgender women, lesbians, and straight cisgender women?Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 28(3), 644–660. https://doi.org/10.1037/xap0000361
58.
MillerA. K. (2019). “Should have known better than to fraternize with a Black man”: Structural racism intersects rape culture to intensify attributions of acquaintance rape victim culpability. Sex Roles, 81(7-8), 428–438. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-019-1003-3
59.
MortonT. A.DimitriouE.BarretoM. (2023). What would a “reasonable person” do? Exploring the gap between experienced and anticipated responses to sexual harassment. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 47(3), 343–364. https://doi.org/10.1177/03616843231170761
PrenticeD. A.CarranzaE. (2002). What women and men should be, shouldn’t be, are allowed to be, and don’t have to be: The contents of prescriptive gender stereotypes. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 26(4), 269–281. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-6402.t01-1-00066
66.
Purdie-VaughnsV.EibachR. P. (2008). Intersectional invisibility: The distinctive advantages and disadvantages of multiple subordinate-group identities. Sex Roles, 59(5-6), 377–391. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-008-9424-4
67.
RingroseJ.RegehrK.WhiteheadS. (2021). Teen girls’ experiences negotiating the ubiquitous dick pic: Sexual double standards and the normalization of image based sexual harassment. Sex Roles, 85(9-10), 558–576. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-021-01236-3
RuntzM. G.O’DonnellC. W. (2003). Students’ perceptions of sexual harassment: Is it harassment only if the offender is a man and the victim is a woman?Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 33(5), 963–982. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2003.tb01934.x
71.
SchachtmanR.GallegosJ.KaiserC. R. (2023). Gender prototypes hinder bystander intervention in women’s sexual harassment. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 1–23. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672231203290
72.
SchultzV. (1998). Reconceptualizing sexual harassment. Yale Law Journal, 107(6), 1683–1805. https://doi.org/ 10.2307/797337
73.
SeskoA. K.BiernatM. (2010). Prototypes of race and gender: The invisibility of Black women. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46(2), 356–360. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2009.10.016
TalukdarI. H.ÖstermanK.BjörkqvistK. (2019). Discrepancies between women’s reports and men’s awareness of sexual harassment: A study among representatives to the Union Parishads in Bangladesh. Eurasian Journal of Medical Investigation, 3(3), 196–204. https://doi.org/10.14744/ejmi.2019.98183
WongY. J.McCulloughK. M. (2021). The intersectional prototypicality model: Understanding the discriminatory experiences of Asian American women and men. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 12(2), 87–99. https://doi.org/10.1037/aap0000208
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
