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Sex Roles (2010) 63:871881 DOI 10.1007/s11199-010-9847-6
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Predictors of Turkish Womens and Mens Attitudes toward Sexual Harassment: Ambivalent Sexism, and Ambivalence Toward Men
Nuray Sakall-Uurlu & Selin Salman & Sinem Turgut
Published online: 8 August 2010# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010
Abstract This study examined the relationships among ambivalent sexism (hostile/benevolent), ambivalence toward men (hostility/benevolence) and Turkish women/mens attitudes toward sexual harassment, including attitudes toward viewing sexual harassment as a result of provocative behaviors of women (ASHPBW) and attitudes toward viewing sexual harassment as a trivial matter (ASHTM). Participants included 220 Turkish undergraduates (136 female; Mage=20.00). They tended to blame women for the incidents of sexual harassment whereas they viewed sexual harassment as a very important social problem. As compared to women, men scored higher in both ASHPBW and ASHTM, suggesting that men are more tolerant of sexual harassment. For both genders, hostile sexism and benevolence toward men predicted ASHPBW. However, for only men, hostile and benevolent sexism predicted ASHTM.
Keywords Sexual harassment . Ambivalent sexism . Ambivalence toward men . Gender differences . Provocative behaviors of women . Social problem . Turkish culture
Introduction
Many women experience some forms of verbal (sexual comments, threats, whistling, and jokes) and/or physical sexual harassment (leering, elevator eyes, pinching, hugging, cornering, and blocking passageway). Researchers have extensively focused on the issues of unwelcome sexual advances in various situations, such as in work or school environments, because of its negative consequences for women such as job dissatisfaction, job withdrawal and psychological problems (e.g., Petrocelli and Repa 1992; Willness et al. 2007). They have searched definitions (e.g., Crocker 1983; Fitzgerald and Ormerod 1991; Powell 1983), implications (e.g., Wasti and Cortina 2002), measurements (Fitzgerald et al. 1995; Reilly et al. 1986), and correlates of sexual harassment (e.g., Russell and Trigg 2004). However, many of the studies have been conducted in the United States with Anglo-American samples. We believe that it is necessary to conduct research in other cultures, like Muslim cultures, to further elaborate sexual harassment constructs and to create awareness and attention to the topic in those cultures.
To our knowledge there has been no study examining the relationship among sexual harassment and ambivalent attitudes toward women and men in Turkish culture, where gender roles are clearly defined and...