Model/Anti-Model Advocacy Responses to Hospitality Industry Sexual Harassment

This chapter explores a case study in the restaurant industry by evaluating accusations against John Besh, a celebrity chef, and his organization, the Besh Restaurant Group (now BRG Hospitality). Applying the work of Perleman and Olbrechts-Tyteca and their identification of model and anti-model argumentation schemes, this study reveals how organizations and industries can address accusations against members (anti-model) and also propose and advocate for changes (model) to improve symbolic and material conditions for their industry, their employees, and their stakeholder communities. By evaluation of the discourses by leaders and members of the restaurant industry, celebrity chefs, and the mass media for their responses to sexual harassment and assault accusations; the opportunity for this movement and protest to serve as a catalyst for change and action might be understood. This case study, related to the restaurant industry, is also intended to illustrate how cases in other industries revealed through the #MeToo movement may also be catalysts for change.

He Said, She Said: The Effectiveness and Outcomes of Responses to Sexual Harassment

Recent high-profile cases of sexual harassment focused the spotlight on inappropriate workplace behavior. Much of the prior research on sexual harassment focuses on organizational culture, what organizations can do to create harassment-free environments, and to increase reporting when it does occur. Less work explores what happens in the actual harassment situations, or how the immediate responses to the incivility affect future interactions. This study seeks to fill that gap by exploring effectiveness of the message responses used by female targets of sexual harassment by male harassers to curtail future harassment in the workplace. We also explore how the target’s responses affect bystanders’ perceptions of her communication effectiveness and her future potential of being promoted. Data were gathered from workers with an average of 12 years of work experience. Using a variety of sexual harassment scenarios developed for this study, we found that assertive responses were considered the most effective in supporting a positive image of the target and avoidance was the least effective. To curtail future harassment, assertiveness and assertive-empathetic responses were perceived as effective strategies. In terms of maintaining the prospects for future promotions, participants again rated assertiveness as the best strategy for the target to employ. Across all scenarios, avoidance was a poor strategy. Beyond several interesting research findings, the scenarios provide materials that could be modified for use by those who are trainers dealing with sexual harassment or could be used as a foundation for more advanced research regarding sexually harassing messages.

Feminist responses to sexual harassment in academia: voice, solidarity and resistance through online activism

This paper takes as its starting point the compilation and circulation online of a list naming alleged sexual harassers in Indian academia in order to examine broader questions about the nature of online activism to address gender-based violence. Set against the historical silencing of women who speak about violence as well as institutional mechanisms to address this issue through due process, we examine the meaning, impact and limitations of this list, which generated considerable discord and debate within feminists in India. In doing so, we consider the place of these new forms of collective actions and expressions of solidarity within the broader feminist campaigns to resist violence.

Gender in Voice Assistants: The Influence of Gender on Perceived Appropriateness in Responses to Sexual Harassment

Does the gender of a Voice Assistant influence the perceived appropriateness of responses to verbal sexual harassment? To answer this question, perceived appropriateness of actual responses to sexual harassment towards conversational systems were tested, manipulating the gender of the voices. The results show an effect of gender on perceived appropriateness. Thus, male senders are perceived as more appropriate than female senders, depending on the appropriateness category.

Service-Women’s Responses to Sexual Harassment: The Importance of Identity Work and Masculinity in a Gendered Organization

Using data from in-depth interviews with 38 U.S. service-women, this article explores women’s responses to sexual harassment in the military workplace. I argue that in an extremely gendered and masculine institution, sexual harassment threatens service-women’s identities as military insiders, presenting an identity dilemma for them. To resolve this dilemma, women prioritize their masculinity and downplay and excuse harassment. In contrast, service-women who have experienced sexual assault or combat confront sexual harassment. I argue that this is possible because for these two groups of women, sexual harassment does not present an identity dilemma. I show how masculinity is used to downplay and normalize harassment as well as to resist it.

Adolescent Sexual Harassment, Shame, and Depression: Do Experiences of Witnessing Harassment Matter?

This preliminary study explored a person-group dissimilarity hypothesis in the context of adolescent sexual harassment. Theory suggests that victimized youth are expected to experience worse outcomes if they perceive victimization to be a rare experience among their peers. This study comprised 435 middle school students who reported on their experiences of sexual harassment (victimization and witnessing), shame, and depressive symptoms. We tested a cross-sectional conditional indirect-effects model, with shame mediating the relationship between victimization and depressive symptoms (the indirect effect) and with witnessing as a moderator of the indirect effect. For all students, shame mediated the relationship between victimization and depressive symptoms. For female students, there was a buffering effect of witnessing, whereby the indirect effect was weaker at high levels of witnessing. These findings have potential implications for theory and intervention, suggesting the importance of examining young people’s social contexts to better understand their responses to sexual harassment.

Medical Tourists and Practitioners’ Responses to Sexual Harassment in SME Healthcare

SME Healthcare are at risk of sexual harassment in the workplace due to several barriers resulting in medical professionals leaving the workforce and reduced productivity. The paper attempts to bridge the gap between the existing findings in general healthcare with medical tourism settings focusing on the medical tourists' behaviour in the destination country and the behaviour of medical practitioners in healthcare SMEs, who may be exposed to sexual harassment at workplace. Thus, this study urge for corrective actions in the medical tourism industry in ensuring the safety of medical tourists and practitioners in the rising demand for medical tourism.Keywords: Sexual Harassment; Behaviour; Medical Practitioners; Medical TouristseISSN 2398-4295 © 2018. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: Where Were the Unions?

Unions have a mixed record when it comes to fighting sexual harassment, especially in cases that involve harassment by union members. Union responses to sexual harassment have been shaped by their position in labor markets that remain highly segmented by gender and race, with male-dominated unions playing a passive role vis-à-vis female targets of sexual harassment, and too often siding with male harassers. Those responses have also been shaped by a legacy of sexism within the labor movement, and exclusion of women from the formal labor market, and from unions, and by a distinctive form of feminism exercised by women inside the labor movement, which focuses on women’s economic situation rather than on other social factors that keep women down. In the wake of the #MeToo movement, some unions faced their own internal harassment scandals. Several unions have since adopted internal codes of conduct, and other approaches to better address harassment internally, and on the shop floor. While codes of conduct are an important element in changing the culture that permits harassment to persist, they are not enough. By authentically focusing on sexual harassment, unions would connect to the experiences of women in all workplaces. They would also increase their chances of growing. Unions remain the most powerful voice for working people in America, and the best vehicle to create a transparent, accessible system that empowers those who suffer harassment in the workplace to stand up collectively and individually against violators. The moment demands intentional, well-resourced, genuine efforts from unions to do better. This article offers modest suggestions that unions could easily adopt.