AUTHOR=Cabras Cristina , Sechi Cristina , Agus Mirian , Cois Ester , Casula Clementina , Raffo Luigi , Mosca Oriana 

TITLE=To be assertive or not to be assertive: That is the question! Students' reactions to sexual harassment in academia

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.949103

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2022.949103

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=Introduction: In literature, no integrated definition of Sexual Harassment (SH) occurs but there is clear unanimity about SH being offensive, humiliating, and intimidating behavior. Within academic settings, SH has severe negative effects on students’ physical or emotional well-being as well as on their ability to succeed academically. 
Methods: The study's main aim was to investigate the relationship between sex, gender roles, and the ways to manage  SH (assertive and non-assertive reactions) in University students. It was hypothesized that female students would report more non-assertive reactions compared to male students. Also, following Bem’s theory on gender roles (1974) and using the self-report tool used by the same Author,  it is hypothesized that female and male students, who are classified as feminine, will report more non-assertive responses whereas male and female students, who are classified as masculine, will report more assertive responses. Our hypothesis was tested with a sample of 1415 University students (593 men, 41.9 %, and 822 women, 58.1 %) who completed a questionnaire approved by the local ethical review board for research from the end of January 2019 to the first half of February 2019. 
Results: Contrary to our hypothesis, results showed that women react more than men, in both assertive and non-assertive modalities. In addition, our results confirmed the main effect of both sex and gender roles on students’ assertive and non-assertive reactions to SH in academia. 
Conclusions: Educational programs about SH may prove useful in preventing its occurrence. Gender Equality Plans in academia can improve a non-sexist and safe environment for students. It is urgent to improve transparency and accountability of policies on the management of SH: academic institutions need to formulate a procedure to facilitate SH reporting, considering the sensitive balance of confidentiality and transparency issues. Support for the victims (social services, health care, legal, career/professional) must be included.