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#MenToo: Understanding How Gender Dynamics in the Workplace Influence Men’s Experiences of Sexual Harassment
On January 18th, Furman’s Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department and Psychology Department co-hosted Dr. Casanova’s presentation of her findings from her #MenToo study.
Dr. Casanova’s study of men’s experience of sexual harassment is a vital new contributor to the field of gender research. While acknowledging that women are more likely to experience gender and sexual harassment in the workforce, Dr. Casanova points out that men’s experiences of harassment are not studied as frequently. She found that there is a gap between reporting, and even defining, gender and sexual harassment for men. Dr. Casanova has conducted two studies of sexual harassment and her presentation to Furman students compared the two: one study in a hypermasculine workplace (the military) and the other conducted in a hyperfeminine workplace (nursing).
Engaging with ideas that encourage students to question how we define masculinity in our culture and what effects that might have on society, Dr. Casanova reflects on the “pressure to conform” and how gender harassment for men can look like “not being man enough” or other statements that police behavior. Her studies lead to a conversation on what Dr. Casanova calls “Masculinity Contest Culture”. She explains that MCC workplace environment can be present in a female dominated profession as well, by encouraging behavior of “showing no weakness, strength and stamina, put work first, and dog-eat-dog”, and these practices can lead to organizational tolerance of sexual and gender harassment. Her findings contradict societal assumptions and show that men are experiencing high rates of sexual and other harassment, and that both women and men are perpetrators of sexual harassment.
Based on her research, Dr. Casanova recommends that employers implement a no-tolerance harassment and toxic work culture policy early on, and that we should avoid practices or actions that enforce gender roles or a gendered work culture.