Citation

Buchanan NCT, Settles IH, Woods KC. Psychol. Women Q. 2008; 32(4): 347-361.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Society for the Psychology of Women, Division 35, American Psychological Association, Publisher SAGE Publications)

DOI

10.1111/j.1471-6402.2008.00450.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Drawing upon feminist analyses of double jeopardy and the cult of true womanhood, we examine race, rank, sexual harassment frequency, and psychological distress for Black and White female military personnel (N= 7,714). Results indicated that White women reported more overall sexual harassment, gender harassment, and crude behavior, whereas Black women reported more unwanted sexual attention and sexual coercion; enlisted women reported higher rates of each subtype than officers. Black enlistees reported more sexual coercion than White enlistees, and enlistees reported more than officers, but there were no racial differences across officers. Black women reported more psychological distress following gender harassment than White women, and enlisted women reported more distress following gender harassment, unwanted sexual attention, and sexual coercion than officers. Although Black officers were less distressed at low levels of sexual coercion, as coercion became more frequent, their distress increased significantly, and at high levels, all groups were similarly distressed.