The sexual harassment victim prototype paradox: understanding perceptions of sexual harassment and victim neglect

Abstract

My collaborators and I propose that the women who disproportionately bear the brunt of sexual harassment are not the women who are typically represented as or imagined to be the targets of sexual harassment, facilitating their neglect. Across 25 studies, we show that various subsets of women who are disproportionately vulnerable to sexual violence, including sexual harassment (e.g., stereotypically masculine women (vs. more stereotypically feminine women), Black (vs. white) women, and transgender (vs. cisgender) women), are not culturally or mentally represented as sexual harassment and assault victims. They also are perceived to be unlikely victims of sexual harassment and are subject to neglect on various outcomes that are central to the legal, organizational, and interpersonal treatment of sexual harassment and assault. In part 1, studies demonstrate that people mentally represent sexual harassment victims as more gender prototypical women (e.g., more feminine). When a less (e.g., more feminine) vs. more (e.g., more masculine) gender prototypical woman was sexually harassed, the incident was less likely to be labeled as such and her claim was perceived as less credible. Additionally, the harassment was thought to cause her less harm and her harasser was given a more lenient punishment. In part 2, we demonstrate that Black (vs. white) women were underrepresented as victims/survivors of sexual violence, including sexual harassment, in Me Too news coverage and search engines. People also erroneously perceived Black (vs. white) women as less likely victims of sexual harassment, and Black (vs. white) women received less support when they publicly shared their stories of sexual harassment and assault during the #MeToo Twitter Hashtag Activism movement. In part 3, we extend the victim protoype to perceptions of transgender women and show that people (and especially people who deny the womanhood of transgender women) think that transgender women are far less likely victims of sexual harassment compared to cisgender women. Additionally, transgender women who experienced some forms of sexual harassment were perceived to be less credible than cisgender women, but equally harmed by it. A brief conclusion charts future directions for research on victim prototypes and neglect and potential interventions.