Challenging masculinity: a rise in male-on-male sexual harassment in the workplace is more about homophobia than sexual favors

In a year when one governor described state legislators as "girlie men" and another resigned trader threat of a sexual harassment lawsuit from a former male aide, it may come as no surprise that male-on-male sexual harassment is on the rise in the American workplace. In light of these and other events the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition in September spotlighted an annual report from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission showing that the number of sexual harassment claims filed by men has more than doubled in the past 10 years.

But they're not limited to cases involving supervisors who pressure subordinates to have sex in order to get promotions or keep their jobs, explained Riki Wilchins, executive director of GenderPAC. "It's about the use of homophobic behavior to stigmatize any man who doesn't meet gender stereotypes for masculinity," she said. Illegal conduct--sometimes dismissed as "horseplay" or "locker-room antics"--increasingly includes sexual taunts, simulated sex acts, use of female pronouns, and threats of sexual aggression, she said. Offenders aim to humiliate their targets by challenging their masculinity.

EEOC senior attorney adviser Ernest Haffner recalled one case in which coworkers continually taunted a waiter they considered effeminate. "They said he carried the tray like a woman," Haffner said. "They used the Spanish word for 'she' and called him a bitch." In another case a worker's colleagues grabbed his genitals so hard that his testicles bled.

Though the agency does not officially track the gender of perpetrators, Haffner said most of the claims filed by men are against other men. Before a 1998 Supreme Court ruling that victims of same-sex harassment could sue under federal law, very few such claims were filed. Since then many large employers have faced expensive lawsuits. Last year, for example, Babies "R" Us paid a $205,000 settlement to a male employee in New Jersey who said he was repeatedly subjected to derogatory comments by other men.

Kim Mills, education director for the Human Rights Campaign, has been tracking workplace discrimination eases based on sexual orientation and gender identity for years. She believes a cultural shift may be responsible for the rise in the number of reports. "Maybe men are more willing to be forthcoming about this, she stud. "Perhaps the culture is changing enough that a man feels able to [report harassment] without any further loss of power or self-esteem."

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