title: Minimization of Male Suffering: Social Perception of Victims and Perpetrators of Opposite-Sex Sexual Coercion.
abstract: Studies show equal impact of sexual harassment (SH) on men and women, whereas lay perceptions are that women suffer more. We identify the phenomenon of minimization of male suffering (MMS), which occurs when people assume that SH has less effect on men's well-being and which results in the perpetrators of SH on men being evaluated less harshly. To verify whether these effects occur, we conducted two studies in which we presented stories describing acts of sexual coercion (SC, study 1) and SC or financial coercion (FC, study 2) and measured the perceived suffering of victims and the perception of the perpetrators. Both studies showed that female victims were perceived to suffer more from SC and FC and that perpetrators of both acts on women were evaluated more negatively. The results support our hypothesis that the suffering of male victims is minimized as they are perceived to suffer less than women.
authors.affiliation: Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès, 5, Allées Antonio Machado, F-31058 Toulouse Cedex 9, France ; SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Campus in Sopot, Polna 16/20, 81-745 Sopot, Poland.
authors.forename: Anna Magda
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7694-4214
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Studzinska
authors.affiliation: Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès, 5, Allées Antonio Machado, F-31058 Toulouse Cedex 9, France.
authors.forename: Denis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hilton
keywords: Perpetrator perception; Sexual coercion; Sexual harassment; Social perception of suffering; Victim perception