Gender Harassment in Science: Is it Just Me?

No, it isn’t just you. Sexual harassment is rampant across the sciences and other male-dominated disciplines. Gender harassment in particular, the “put downs” of sexual harassment, are rarely recognized as creating a negative workplace for women and gender minorities. Yet gender harassment is the most prevalent and frequent form of harassment, and thus has similar negative outcomes for women compared to the kinds of singly traumatic sexual events described more often in the media. In this talk, I will show how the history and culture of science creates white masculine ideals that permeate its modern practice, and how these ideals in turn influence the lived experience, productivity, and inclusion of women of color and white women. I will draw from recent publications as well as upcoming projects to demonstrate the ways in which people who are sexually harassed 1) question the validity of their experience, 2) question their scientific identity and worth, and 3) become targeted for intersecting forms of harassment depending on their other identities (e.g., gender identity, race, sexuality).