Harassment Diversity Sexual Harassment and Diversity Learning Activities

Mastery Test:

Sexual harassment can only occur on campus and during school-sponsored events.

True

correct answer

False

Correct, sexual harassment can occur off campus and outside regular hours, at parties, conferences, community functions and other non-sponsored events. Your score is 100%.

It is okay to tell sexual jokes in the workplace, as long as no one complains.

True

correct answer

False

Correct. Sexual jokes are inappropriate in the workplace. Your score is 100%.

Hattie works for Ace Modeling Agency and one of her key clients has sexually harassed her on a business trip. Hattie reported this behavior to her manager, Jim Pondell, but Jim told Hattie to put up with the behavior since the client said he would drop the account if Hattie doesn't work with him on it alone.

Hattie quit the agency when the client's behavior grew more threatening.

correct answer

A. Hattie has grounds for a sexual harassment claim since her manager didn't take action on her complaint.

B. Since so many clients in her industry demand this type of treatment, Hattie should learn to play the game.

C. Hattie has no grounds for complaint against Ace Modeling but can pursue a complaint against the client.

D. Since Hattie quit the agency, she has no rights to file a sexual harassment complaint.

Correct. Hattie's management is responsible for providing a work environment free of sexual harassment. Your score is 100%.

4

Sexual harassment only occurs when the harasser is male.

A. True

correct answer

B. False

Yes, sexual harassment can occur when the harasser is male or female. Your score is 100%.

5

Conduct of a sexual nature must be severely or pervasively offensive as perceived by the standard of a "reasonable person" in order to be judged as hostile environment sexual harassment.

correct answer

A. True

B. False

Correct. The "Reasonable Person" Standard is what the courts use to determine whether objectionable behavior of a sexual nature creates a hostile working environment. This is not the case in quid pro quo situations. Your score is 100%.

6

It's sexual harassment to tell a classmate of the opposite sex that he/she looks nice.

A. True

correct answer

B. False

Correct, a polite compliment is appropriate as long as it does not have unwelcome sexual overtones. Your score is 100%.

7

Sharon Phillips, Department Chair, is dating Randy Weaver, a graduate student working in her department. Their relationship: (choose the best answer)

A. can lead to legal problems for both Sharon and IUPUI

B. is legal

C. is not prudent correct answer

D. all of the above

Correct, the affair is legal, but it is not prudent, since it can lead to legal problems for both Sharon and IUPUI. Your score is 100%.

8

One of the best ways to stop sexual harassment is to simply ignore the harasser.

A. True

correct answer

B. False

Correct. The first step in stopping the harassment is asking the harasser to stop. Your score is 100%.

9

In some circumstances, a single isolated incident of harassment may create a hostile and abusive environment.

correct answer

A. True

B. False

Correct. In unusual circumstances, a single, severe incident of harassment may be sufficient to constitute a hostile environment. Your score is 100%.

10

Sexual harassment has more to do with power relationships than sex.

correct answer

A. True

B. False

Yes, sexual harassment makes the harasser feel more powerful by intimidating the target. Your score is 100%.

11

Calvin Lutz is the life of the lunchroom and loves to tell sexually-graphic stories to his friends and co-workers. He does not intend to offend anyone by telling his jokes. Calvin's behavior:

A. is unprofessional but no cause for concern

B. should be encouraged since it builds morale and no one has complained

C. cannot be sexual harassment, since he does not intend to offend correct answer

D. could contribute to a hostile and offensive working environment

Correct. Intent is not relevant in sexual harassment, it is the impact of the behavior that counts. Your score is 100%.

12

Asking a school...

True
correct answer

B. False

Correct. Dating a school employee or faculty member may be against a school policy, but it is not sexual harassment. Your score is 100%.

13

Sexual harassment occurs only when a boss tells a subordinate to provide sexual favors in order to keep his or her job.

A. True

correct answer

B. False

Yes, sexual harassment occurs in a wide variety of forms, some mild, some severe. Your score is 100%.

14

IUPUI has a policy prohibiting sexual harassment and a procedure for filing a harassment complaint.

correct answer

A. True

B. False

Correct. IUPUI has a policy prohibiting sexual harassment and a procedure for filing a harassment complaint. Your score is 100%.

15

If a faculty member makes a student's grades conditional on sexual favors, this type of sexual harassment is called:

A. creating a hostile work environment correct answer

B. quid pro quo

C. supervisory malconduct

D. none of the above

Yes, exchanging grades or other academic benefits for sexual favors is quid pro quo harassment. Your score is 100%.

Discussion Questions:

1.

A hostile workplace can have a destructive impact on company morale and can significantly undermine the ability of an individual facing such hostility to adequately perform in his or her job. This hostility may take any number of forms, but two of the most frequently identified are sexual harassment and diversity discrimination. Often, these two forms of hostility are overlapping, though not without their distinct differences.

It is important to understand that which distinguishes each and that which causes them to overlap in order to identify such patterns as they occur. Indeed, sexual harassment is a social issue with direct consequences to our collective workplace culture, our gender hierarchy and our legal consideration. Especially as its presence can be illustrated to persist in such contexts as the American workplace, evidence suggests sexual harassment to be a serious impediment to employee morale, organizational effectiveness and a general pursuit of a larger social gender equality. According to the EEOC, sexual harassment in the workplace may be defined as "unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when: (1) submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual's employment, (2) submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as a basis for employment decisions affecting such individual, or (3) such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual's work performance or creating an intimidating hostile or offensive working environment." (New Media Learning, Ref. 220)

Sexual harassment may take the form of gender discrimination in which the members of one gender are given unequal treatment to the members of others. More frequently than not, female employees are victimized in this way, whether subjected to lower wages, social isolation or unfair labor assignments. Likewise, the use of sexually suggestive language, inappropriate physical interaction, unwanted advances, vulgarity, gender-based stereotypes or the general creation of a chauvinistic atmosphere all qualify as sexual harassment.

Beyond this distinction, there is a heavy amount of crossover between such harassment and the concept of diversity discrimination. This is demonstrated ably in the article by Krieger et al. (2006), entitled "Social Hazards on the Job: Workplace abuse, sexual harassment, and racial discrimination -- a study of black, Latino, and White Low-Income Women and Men Workers in the United States." Published in the International Journal of Health Services in 2006, this would make the two part contention that discrimination both sexually and racially does exist and that there are correlations between one's status as a racial minority and one's vulnerability to sexual harassment. Likewise, The same general principles (such as unwelcomeness, severity or pervasiveness, hostile environment) that [we] have learned constitute sexual harassment also apply to other forms of harassment." (New Media Learning, Ref. 480)

Defining harassment as discriminatory, hostile or abusive verbal or professional treatment toward an individual or group, the article by Krieger et al. also leads to the finding "that the lived-- and combined -- experiences of class, race, and gender inequities and their attendant assaults on human dignity are highly germane to analyses of workers'…