Two Sides of the Coin: Women, Men, and the Politics of Sexual Harassment

ABSTRACT History tells us that elected leaders who are tainted by scandal often pay a political price for their behavior. In the past few years, such allegations of sexual harassment have engulfed a large number of political (as well as entertainment, business, and even academic) figures. Many were forced to resign their positions, while others chose to end their campaigns for election or reelection. While the great majority of harassment victims are women, there are a few instances where the sex roles have been reversed – and with more women running for and winning public office (and thereby gaining positions of power and authority), it is possible that we will see more such role reversals in the future. Our study uses data from an internet-based survey of registered voters to examine citizens’ attitudes about sexual harassment and the extent to which those attitudes shape their reactions when allegations of harassment are made against a fictional member of Congress. With an innovative experimental design, we will examine whether reactions vary with (a) either the target’s or the voter’s gender or (b) the former’s response to the allegations of sexual misconduct made against him/her (denial, apology, counterframe).