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Beauty And Believability In Sexual Harassment Cases: Does Physical Attractiveness Affect Perceptions Of Veracity And The Likelihood Of Being Harassed?, John S. Seiter, Deborah Dunn

Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

This study explored whether a female student's level of attractiveness affects the degree to which she is believed when making a claim of sexual harassment, and whether attractiveness is related to perceptions of how likely it is that she will be sexually harassed. Participants viewed one of three photographs of a female model who was made to appear a) unattractive, b) attractive and pristine, or c) attractive but not pristine. Afterwards they read a case file in which the photographed model claimed to have been sexually harassed by one of her professors. Finally, participants rated the photographed model's veracity and …