Previous research suggests that women are more likely than men to perceive a hostile environment of sexual harassment in job-related scenarios. Such findings raise questions about whether a “reasonable woman” standard might be preferable to a “reasonable person” standard for adjudication of some sexual harassment cases. There are sound arguments for both positions, and there is no basis at the present time for unequivocal and categorical support for one position over the other.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BairdC. L.BenskoN. L.BellP. A.VineyW., & WoodyW. D. (1995) Gender influence on perceptions of hostile environment sexual harassment. Psychological Reports, 77, 79–82.
2.
EisenmanR. (1995) Dubious value of the “reasonable woman” standard in understanding sexual harassment. Psychological Reports, 77, 1145–1146.
3.
MeadsM. A. (1993) Applying the reasonable woman standard in evaluating sexual harassment claims: is it justified?Law & Psychology Review, 17, 209–223.
4.
SommersC. H. (1995) Who stole feminism?New York: Simon & Schuster.
