HOW SUBJECTIVE IS SEXUAL HARASSMENT - AN EXAMINATION OF RATER EFFECTS

Two truisms about sexual harassment have come to light: Sexual harassm ent has a large subjective component, and women have a broader, more i nclusive definition of harassment than men. Both of these truisms, bas ed on research findings, have influenced social and organizational pol icies and the law. I review the research on the effects of rater's cha racteristics on their definition of sexual harassment and suggest that perhaps the subjectivity of sexual harassment has been overemphasized . In general, women and men do differ in their definitions of sexual h arassment, but the difference is small and occurs only under certain c onditions. In addition, older adults seem to have a broader definition of sexual harassment than younger adults.