1. Cross-Cultural
Issues of Sexual
Harassment in
English Language
Learning
Diana Boxer
University of Florida
dboxer@ufl.edu

2. • In the US, many females especially in
engineering and the sciences, perceive foreign-
born males negatively in the workplace.
• Many prefer not to work with foreign-born
males due to differing norms of language and
behavior

3. • Perceptions of sexual harassment vary across
cultures
• First, what is considered sexual in one society
may not be considered as such in another

4. • In most US speech communities, if inadvertent
touching takes place, especially between a female
and a male, an apology is expected.
• In other cultures, for instance in Israel, no apology
is expected in cases of inadvertent touching (G.
Hatav, 1994, pers. comm.).
• It’s not difficult to imagine how such a cultural
difference in speech act requirements could lead a
US student to perceive sexual intent when an ITA
believes he or she has acted perfectly politely.

5. • A female Korean graduate student reported to the authors
that a Chinese male student asked her for a date many
times.
• When she asked him why he continued to ask her after
several rejections, he voiced the belief that females say 'No'
even when they mean 'Yes'.
• The Korean student reported that she thought he was a
pest but did not consider his behavior as sexual
harassment.
• However, when the same Chinese student repeatedly asked
female US graduate students for dates, they reported him
to their department chair

6. • Second, tolerance of language and behavior that
may be sexual varies cross-culturally
• Assumption is that we all know intuitively what is
sexual and what isn’t
• Assumption that we all know what are the
appropriate boundaries

7. What constitutes Sexual
Harassment?
• Women and men disagree
• Men find a narrower range offensive
• Men find the effects far less serious

8. Reasonable person vs.
reasonable woman
• SH involves asymmetrical power
• Terms of endearment?
• E.g. sweetie, honey, dear
• Compliments?
• Color of hair, shape of hands, etc.

9. • Historically, SH invokes the perspective of the
“reasonable person”
• But: North American courts now invoke
“reasonable woman”
• A communicative act such as sexual banter may be
perceived as more threatening to women than
heterosexual men because a woman’s stock of cultural
beliefs may include the proposition that sexual banter is
potentially a prelude to violent sexual assault” (Ehrlich,
2001)

10. • Simply exposed to people from other cultures
doesn’t guarantee improved understanding
• People are largely unaware of the particular
filtering of perceptions produced by the
constraints of their own societal norms
• We easily assign divergent interpretations to
events or conversations without realizing that
equally valid interpretations are possible

11. Classroom discourse
• The US English-speaking classroom
• less formal than many other societies
• Question for Learners of English
• Loosen up?
• Retain your cultural norms?

12. The Studies
• Co-authored with Professor Andrea Tyler,
Georgetown University
• Survey on written 12 written scenarios
• Four based on the literature
• Eight based on real interactions at our university
• 44 US English speaking students
• 20 TAs from various countries
• Five scenarios statistically significant regarding
differences in perceived SH

13. Video prompts and
interviews
• Each scenario enacted twice
• Once with a female international teacher and
male student
• Once with a male teacher and female student
• Reasoning that females are more likely to do
certain speech acts
• E.g. personal disclosures (Boxer and Cortes-
Conde, 2010)
• Commiseration (Boxer 1993)

14. Interviews
• Two groups of ITAs
• Chinese
• Taiwan and PRC
• Six males, three females
• Latinos
• Colombia, Uruguay, Venezuela
• Three males, three females

15. • TAs often understood different rules of
speaking cross-culturally
• Sometimes they indicated they would say or do
something in their own countries but not in the
US
• Sometimes they said they might not do or say
something in the US that they would not in
their cultures
• They sometimes overgeneralized the
differences and overstepped the boundaries

16. Sample scenario
• 6. You are in a class with a TA who seems quite
conscientious. The TA is carefully prepared and
expects students to also be prepared. After a few
weeks, the TA says, 'Several of you have said that
you are having difficulty making my office hours.
My schedule is quite busy so I can't change my
hours but I'll give you my home phone number.
You can call me at home any time you have a
question over an assignment and I'll try to answer
your questions’.
• We anticipated that US undergraduates would
find the behavior in scenario no. 6 appropriate.

18. • 7. 1:22 You have a class which meets every MWF. The
TA borrowed a book from you two weeks ago. During
the last class, which met on Friday, you asked if the TA
happened to have brought the book to class. When
the TA said, 'No', you responded, 'OK, no problem'. At
9:30pm Saturday night, the TA dropped by your
apartment to return your book. The TA asked what
you were doing. When you said you were just reading,
the TA said, 'I'm not doing anything either'.
• We anticipated that US UGs would find the behavior in
scenario no. 7 highly inappropriate.

19. • Scenario 7 violates US cultural norms for invitations. Speakers of
US English tend to do a dance of negotiation with invitations.
That is, members of most US speech communities put out leads
or 'feelers' that need to be taken up by the interlocutor in order
to successfully negotiate an invitation (Wolfson et al., 1983). In US
society, unlike some others, it is unusual for guests to arrive at
another's home unexpectedly.
• The following comment, from a male UG, illustrates this:
• Unless you've already established a personal relationship it's
gonna be odd for a TA to drop by your house, especially on a
weekend. A lot would depend on the relationship established
with the TA.
•

20. • The female UGs had even stronger negative
feelings:
• I'd feel very weird-like, why are you coming to
my house, why do you know where I live?
What's your point?
• [It's] weird-a power relationship. Definitely
inappropriate. It's strange even when a friend
drops by without warning. I'd cut it off
immediately. It would make me feel
uncomfortable.

21. • 12. 2:15 It is the first meeting of a class with a new TA.
The TA would like to get to know the students on an
individual basis in order to better deal with their study
of the subject. When you arrive at your first tutorial,
the TA begins to ask you the following questions:
'What do you like to do on Friday and Saturday nights?’
'Are you currently involved romantically?' 'Does your
social life leave you enough time for your academic
work?’
• We anticipated that some US UGs would find the
behavior in this scenario appropriate and some would
find it inappropriate

22. Scenario 5: Arm around
• 5. 30 You are in your first computer programming class and you
are finding it difficult. You have a lab which meets once a week at
the end of which you have to turn in your program. Before you
actually turn in your program, you have to sit down with your TA
and explain certain aspects of your program. If you can't explain
them clearly, you could lose some points. This makes you
nervous. Sometimes you find it difficult to explain things even
when you've done them properly. The TA said that you lost a few
points on your first two labs because of your explanation. Last
week when you sat down to explain your program, your TA
pulled the chair closer to yours and, putting an arm around your
shoulders, said, 'OK, your program seems to run fine. I want you
to relax and just tell me what you did'. The TA left the arm around
your shoulders for abut 30 seconds while you began to explain,
then sat back and listened as you finished your explanation. You
felt that you explained the program about as well as you had on
previous labs. When you were finished the TA said, 'OK, good
job'. This week, when you got ready to explain your lab, the TA
again put an arm around your shoulders while you began to
explain. How do you interpret this behavior?

23. Scenario 5: Arm around
In the realm of nonverbal and tactile behavior, striking differences emerged
in perceptions between the genders and the different cultural groups. While
the female informants interviewed indicated that having a TA put an arm
around one's shoulders (scenario 5) was inappropriate, the male UGs and
ITAs did not react as negatively as the women. Some representative male
comments illustrate this:
• Scenario 5 (arm around)
• Male ITA: That TA's a genius at psychology. As long as his behavior helps
me overcome the emotion of the beginning, everything is OK. I agree
with the TA's behavior. (Romanian speaker)
• I think this behavior is just the TA's caringness. The TA felt [the student]
was so nervous about explanation. So the TA just wanted to make [him]
easy. (Korean speaker)

24. Female UGs
• [That's] not even like wondering if you're
crossing the boundaries, that's like flat out ...
like ... come on, you know ... no matter what
culture.
• [That’s] really inappropriate … just
inappropriate … totally out of the question!

25. Male undergraduate perceptions fell somewhere at
an intermediate point between the male ITA
acceptance and female UG rejection of this behavior
as appropriate:
Male UG
• This is another cultural situation. I think there are
some cultures where that's OK. I'd pay attention
to how the TA treated the other students.
Personality would have a lot to do with it too. And
how they did it.

26. • 6. 2:15
• I never noticed, but you have the
most beautiful eyes. Eyes are a
reflection of the soul. Your eyes are
truly beautiful.

27. Scenario 9: Compliment
• Response to scenario 9 shows a potential area
for miscommunication. A number of the ITAs
seemed to find the compliment acceptable.
• Male ITAs
• She likes the student's eyes, that's all. She or he
thinks the student has beautiful eyes. What's
the problem? (Spanish speaker)
• In my country, if a teacher says this to me, I will
thank him/her about this feeling. (Arabic
speaker)

28. • US male UGs, on the other hand, consistently found this scenario
to be inappropriate:
• Male UGs
• A little too personal. Sounds like a bad bar pick-up line. Very
inappropriate. The TA seems sexually interested. Male: I would
thank him and explain that I have a GIRLfriend. I would
secretly hope that this would not effect my grade adversely.
• This depends on what type of class the TA teaches. If it is an
English or philosophy class, I wouldn't be taken aback. If it was
a science or math class, I would feel the comments were an
obvious pick-up line, regardless of their sex.
•

29. Scenario 9
• Female UGs
• Oh the cheese! Did you take your cheesy pill
today? ... You know, don't say things like that
to me please. I think I might be shocked
enough not to know quite what to do!
• A lot would depend on ... how assertive it was
... It could be very seedy.

30. Conclusion
• These differences, which involve the
cultural as well as the linguistic, play a
crucial role in interpreting relationships
of 'power, status, role and occupational
specialization that make up the fabric of
our social life' (Gumperz, 1982: 6).

31. Conclusion
• For those who are novices in the role of
teacher, it is particularly important to gain
heightened awareness and to exercise
exceptional care in power differential inherent
in the teacher-student relationship.
• Beyond the scope of classroom discourse, the
findings reported here have implications for
other groups around the globe interacting
with speakers of US English.

32. Conclusion
• As sensibilities change and as women become
an increasing presence in an international
workforce, so does the potential for serious
miscommunication.
• Cross-cultural misfires concerning potential
perceptions of sexual harassment have
repercussions not only in the educational
sphere but in the business and diplomatic
spheres as well.