It is estimated that between 20-40% of women encounter sexual harassment at a university. However, university grievance offices report that less than one percent of the student population, whether female or male, complains. Sexual harassment research indicates that a large number of people who experience sexual harassment do not label it as such and therefore, do not report it. The effectiveness of the objective sexual harassment definition in describing the experiences of students is questioned. A qualitative approach is used to explore how students define sexual harassment and how they categorize their experiences in relation to their definitions. The analysis, based on twenty interviews of upper year undergraduate students, suggests that although students define sexual harassment similarly to the objective definition, they do not relate their experiences to the definition. The disparity between abstract formulations and concrete experiences may account for the low reporting. The addition of examples of common sexual harassment experiences is suggested as a way of making the objective definition more comprehensive and accessible. An example of how the objective definition may be developed is provided in the concluding chapter.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.27939 |
| Date | January 1997 |
| Creators | Dourambeis, Nicola. |
| Contributors | Tancred, Peta (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Department of Sociology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001618207, proquestno: MQ37202, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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