Double Jeopardy: Race/Ethnicity and Sexual Harassment in the U.S. Military

Abstract

Our research examines a sample of respondents from a Department of Defense (DoD) survey in an attempt to determine the incidence of sexual harassment in the military by race/ethnic category and to determine whether or not women's experiences differ based on race and ethnic membership.  Logistic regression is used to test whether racial and ethnic minorities face double risks of victimization with respect to sexual Results do not support an adverse interaction of race and gender with respect to sexual harassment in the military for Black women; however, findings varied depending on type of harassment for Hispanic and Other Race women.  The biggest surprise is that the males report a higher incidence of harassment in 2002.  Replicating an earlier finding, when no environmental harassment is reported individual harassment is very rare.  Overall, this finding supports the importance of organizational context in producing different levels of harassment.

Keywords: Sexual harassment, Race, Ethnicity, Sex, Military