As to the causes of sexual harassment, it's important to note that sexual harassment comes in many varied shapes and forms. As I've alluded to, the typical sexual harassment scenario that we often read about in the media, and which employees understand, is the salacious conduct between a boss and a subordinate. But it comes in various manifestations and the behaviours range from sexual assault, which is a criminal offence, right through to very subtle language that permeates organizations. I think these more subtle forms of gendered organizational processes are almost the most problematic in terms of causing sexual harassment, because they're not widely recognized.
In our research, we found that a lot of sexual harassers are serial offenders, and that organizational processes don't adequately deal with those harassers. These men are often Teflon-coated. I'm not sure if that's a Canadian term. They're often not disciplined as a consequence of their behaviour, so they're given licence to continue to treat women in very demoralizing ways.