Defending the Victim of Sexual Harassment

Abstract

Objectifying media may promote sexual harassment, including harassment proclivity and harassment conduct. In the current study, we showed that objectifying media affected people’s intervention when they witnessed a harassment episode. After exposure to objectifying TV or to a control video, Italian participants ( N = 126) took part in what they believed to be an employment interview that occurred by computer chat between a male interviewer and a female job applicant; participants could intervene at any time in the conversation. Participants exposed to the objectifying TV (vs. control) video were less likely to intervene and took more time before intervening in the interview in which the interviewer engaged in harassing behavior. They also reported perceiving harassment at a later stage in the interview. We discuss the role of media in creating a normative context that condones harassing behavior, and we suggest potential training programs to increase bystanders’ intervention when sexual harassment occurs.