Sexual harassment

In this qualitative study, 21 Title IX federal court cases between 2000–2022 were examined. The purpose of this analysis was to explore how the changes in Title IX guidance across President George W. Bush (R), President Barack Obama (D), and President Donald Trump (R) administrations have impacted higher education institutional liability lawsuits. Guided by content analysis and the power-conscious framework, three research questions were asked: (1) How have the Title IX policy changes under the Bush, Obama, and Trump U.S. presidential administrations impacted higher education institutional liability lawsuits? (2) What specific Title IX requirements within the Bush, Obama, and Trump U.S. presidential administrations are higher education institutions being held liable for violating? (3) How effective is the Title IX guidance under the Bush, Obama, and Trump U.S. presidential administrations at reducing institutional liability? Four themes emerged from this study: (1) Increase in Title IX lawsuits, (2) Violation of Presidential Guidance Does Not Mean Violation of Title IX, (3) Previous Court Cases, (4) Guidance with More Legal Protocol Can Reduce Title IX Liability.
This content analysis concluded that higher education institutions should incorporate legal standards into their Title IX process and work to be compliant with federal law and the guidance provided by the Department of Education. Furthermore, this study demonstrates the different types and forms of power that change over a period of time. Based upon these conclusions, recommendations were made for higher education institutions and the U.S. Department of Education to create policies that would be fair and equitable to the involved parties while also reducing institutional liability.

Although the sensationalized term “Revenge Porn” is used by media outlets to spark conversation about consent and digital privacy, the nonconsensual distribution of intimate media, or “image-based sexual abuse” (IBSA), is the preferred term by scholars for its more accurate depiction of the variety of modes, methods, and damages. I argue that targeted women experience many of the same damages to their socioemotional, interpersonal, and professional well-being that targets of traditional, offline, sexual violence experience, and that the nature and affordances of digital technology often allow these harms to transcend the once isolated contexts in which offline cases of sexual violence occurred. Moreover, regulatory bodies often trivialize and dismiss IBSA, deeming it inconsequential despite the devastating professional and socioemotional effects targets experience. This research explored a) how women navigate and respond to IBSA in the workplace when boundaries of personal and professional identities are crossed nonconsensually and whether demographic differences influence approaches via fifteen interviews with IBSA targets and two organizational leaders. The findings revealed that organizational environment and attitudes were the most influential factors in female employees' decisions to report, and in turn, employee turnover, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction. Demographic characteristics, such as age and gender, influenced how and from whom targets sought informal, or emotional support. Therefore, this research demonstrates the need for, IBSA and its impact to be foregrounded in how traditional sexual violence and harassment are dealt with. Finally, to extend the IBSA and workplace sexual harassment literature further, I argue for the importance of an organizational climate that is not only understanding, but supportive of IBSA targets in establishing appropriate training, regulations, and policy for sexual harassment both online and offline, structured around target support, prevention, and bystander intervention.