To many people, sexual harassment is synonymous with unwanted advances and possibly inappropriate physical contact. They often imagine a heterosexual man targeting a woman. Some people recognize that same-sex sexual harassment can occur as well.
After all, many businesses have workers who are homosexual or bisexual. Those employees may take an interest in it someone in the same sex. There are also some people who may be heterosexual but who may enjoy the power dynamics of coercing others into encounters that they do not want.
Obviously, cases involving repeated unwanted advances or quid pro quo harassment between workers of the same sex could constitute sexual harassment. However, physical attraction and sexual advances are not necessary for same-sex sexual harassment to occur.
Workers can create a hostile environment
Same-sex sexual harassment may involve one or more individuals creating a hostile environment for a specific employee. For example, a group of female employees might target another woman within the company. They may spread rumors about her sexual history in an attempt to damage her reputation. They may exclude her from team building opportunities, make inappropriate jokes at her expense and interfere with her ability to perform her job by constantly attacking or abusing her.
Men could also experience a hostile work environment caused by their co-workers. Especially in scenarios where men may face accusations of being less manly than their peers in a blue-collar setting, their coworkers could create a hostile work environment that endangers not just their career but possibly their physical safety.
Hostile work environments involve more than casual insults or occasional bullying. They are the result of a protracted, sometimes even organized, attempt to abuse a specific person. The ultimate goal may be to force the targeted worker to quit. Employers should not allow such abuse to occur unchecked, especially after the worker dealing with overt hostilities from other employees reports the matter to management or human resources.
Workers dealing with a hostile work environment created by same-sex coworkers may have grounds to take legal action if their employers do not help to resolve the situation. Filing a sexual harassment lawsuit on the basis of a hostile work environment can force a company to change its policies or lead to compensation for the employee targeted by their coworkers.
