The utility of the reasonable woman legal standard in hostile environment sexual harassment cases - A multimethod, multistudy examination

The case of Ellison v. Brady (1991) was a landmark decision in establishing a new legal standard - the reasonable woman standard - for evaluating host ile environment allegations of sexual harassment and in relying, albeit ind irectly, on social science evidence to support its decision. The authors re view the legal standard in sexual harassment law, and the legal arguments a nd social science evidence underlying Ellison. The new standard could affec t judgments broadly by sensitizing jurors to the situation of a female plai ntiff, or it could affect judgments selectively by sensitizing only those p eople who might otherwise be especially insensitive to her situation. Five studies that focus on the effect of the reasonable woman standard on people 's assessments of hostile environment sexual harassment indicate that the r easonable woman standard has modest, if any, effects on the judgments studi ed. Implications are discussed.