Skip to main content

Sexual Harassment

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science
  • 72 Accesses

Synonyms

Impropriety; Offensive sexual advance; Sexual intimidation; Unwanted sexual advance

Definition

Any unwelcome sexual conduct.

Introduction

The definition of harassment may vary depending on its social or legal context, however the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission provides the widely accepted definition as “unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature…” (Equal Employement Opportunity Commission 1980). The women’s advocacy group Arming Women against Rape and Endangerment (AWARE.org) differentiates the methods of harassment into three categories: verbal, visual, and physical.

Types of Sexual Harassment

Verbal sexual harassment constitutes any comment or remark that is of a sexual nature, or any sexually obscene or insulting sounds. This also includes any unwelcome and offensive names or terms of endearment. Examples of verbal sexual harassment include, but are not limited to, cat calls, kissing sounds,...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • A.W.A.R.E. (n.d.). Aware.org. Retrieved from AWARE.org

  • Brownmiller, S. (1999). In our time: Memoir of a revolution. New York: Dial Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buss, D. M. (2008). Evolutionary psychology : The new science of the mind. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buss, D. M. (2016). The evolution of desire: Strategies of human mating. New York: Basic Books.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Buss, D. M., & Malamuth, N. (1996). Sex, power, conflict: Evolutionary and feminist perspectives. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crooks, R., & Baur, K. (2014). Our sexuality (12th ed.). Belmont: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

    Google Scholar 

  • Equal Employement Opportunity Commission. (1980). 74676–74677. Retrieved from https://www.EEOC.gov

  • Geher, G. (2014). Evolutionary psychology 101. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haselton, M. G., & Buss, D. M. (2000). Error management theory: A new perspective on biases in cross-sex mind reading. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(1), 81.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Platek, S. M., & Singh, D. (2010). Optimal waist-to-hip ratios in women activate neural reward centers in men. PloS One, 5(2), e9042. 1–5.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Rowe, M. P. (1977). The Saturn’s rings phenomenon: Micro-inequities and unequal opportunity in the American economy. In Proceedings of the national science foundation’s conference on women’s leadership and authority. Santa Cruz: University of California.

    Google Scholar 

  • Studd, M. V. (1996). Sexual harassment. In N. Malamuth & D. M. Buss (Eds.), Sex, power and conflict: Evolutionary and feminist perspectives (pp. 54–89). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to E. Alexandria Cozanitis .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Section Editor information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this entry

Cite this entry

Cozanitis, E.A. (2017). Sexual Harassment. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2488-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2488-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics