Men who harass women with sexually suggestive remarks or sounds actually harm all men, a new study has found.
Stephanie Jador and Diana Quinn from the University of Connecticut in the US studied the feelings and reactions of women who saw and heard men making disparaging remarks about other women.
Researchers asked 114 undergrad females to watch videos and imagine themselves witnessing men making sexist remarks to another woman or simply greeting her.
The female students were asked to rate their levels of irritation and depression, as well as anger and fear, toward these men. They were also asked to consider whether they would want to shame the man or simply leave.
The results showed that, in addition to feeling upset, women are more likely to view sexist remarks as an insult to their gender, which makes them feel angry and motivated to take direct action against men in general.
“It's clear that women experience these feelings because they suffer the negative consequences not only as participants but also as witnesses to such treatment,” says Zhador.
“But just as importantly, sexism harms men too. Whenever a man commits such acts, women attribute them to the male sex as a whole.”
“Therefore, any manifestation of male sexism changes women's views and reactions to other men.”