The victims of sexual harassment who have recently come forward are far from alone: Nearly half of women say they have experienced some form of it at work at least once in their careers. But there has been little research about those responsible for it.
A new survey suggests how widespread the behavior is, and the role companies play in allowing it to happen. About a third of men said they had done something at work within the past year that would qualify as objectionable behavior or sexual harassment, and they were more likely to have done so when they had managers who looked the other way.
The survey – the result of a collaboration between The New York Times, leading sexual harassment researchers, and the polling and media company Morning Consult – asked men about a spectrum of behavior, ranging from whether they had told sexual stories or jokes that some might consider offensive, to whether they had implied better treatment if someone were sexually cooperative.
How many men admit it?
The most common type of activity that men acknowledged is what researchers call gender harassment. This includes telling crude jokes or stories and sharing inappropriate videos. About 25 percent of men in the survey – a nationally representative sample – said they had done at least one of these things.