Sexual harassment? Cross-cultural cross-linguistic perspectives

With the increasing numbers of international graduate students and faculty on US university campuses have come increasing reports of communication problems between these instructors and their US students, including accusations of sexual harassment. We investigate here the key role that culture-specific interpretations of verbal and nonverbal behavior play in effectively communicating in the context of the classroom discourse of US higher education. We extend these interpretations to the area of what verbal and nonverbal behavior might have sexual implications and therefore what teacher (and peer) behavior might be perceived as sexual harassment. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were carried out on the reactions of US undergraduates and international teaching assistants (ITAs) to 12 scenarios based on naturally occurring (and potentially problematic) interactions. Results of the study indicate that (1) language and behavior that is perceived as sexual in nature in the US may not be so perceived in other societies; and (2) certain sexually tinged verbal and nonverbal behaviors may be more tolerated in societies other than US society, given the present state of heightened sensitivity to the issue of sexual harassment in the US. We investigate here the dangers that ITAs may face given both these factors.