Study Shows Sexual Harassment Leads to Double-Victimization in the Workplace

SALT LAKE CITY - (BUSINESS WIRE) - Approximately 50 percent of women experience some form of sexual harassment in the workplace at some point during their career.

As shocking as that number is, perhaps more so is the fact that many of those women find themselves doubly victimized through the reactions of judgmental coworkers who might think the victims didn't do enough to stop the harassment, or that they somehow "asked for it," depending on how the victim responded to the situation.

A new study co-authored by the University of Utah's Kristina A. Diekmann, a professor in the David Eccles School of Business, illustrates how "passive" victims of sexual harassment in the workplace-women who don't aggressively and directly respond to a harassment situation, or even report it afterward-are often unfairly condemned by coworkers, to the point where their peers wouldn't recommend them for a job or want to collaborate with them on projects in the workplace.