Do Sexual Harassment Claimants’ Gender Identity and Race Influence Third-Party Observers’ Assumptions About the Harassment Incident?

Abstract

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 at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/suppl/10.1177/03616843241252658