Legal Definitions - same-sex harassment

Same-sex harassment occurs when an individual is subjected to unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature, or harassment that is based on their sex, by another individual of the same sex. This conduct becomes illegal when it is severe or pervasive enough to create a hostile work environment, or when it results in an adverse employment decision (such as being fired or demoted).

The critical element is that the harassment is "because of sex," meaning it targets the victim due to their gender, even if the harasser and victim share the same gender. This can include sexually explicit behavior, gender-based insults, or actions that enforce gender stereotypes, making the environment intimidating, hostile, or offensive.

Here are some examples illustrating same-sex harassment:

• Workplace Hostile Environment (Physical/Verbal): Imagine two male colleagues working in a warehouse. One repeatedly makes crude sexual jokes and comments directed at the other, touches him inappropriately on the shoulder or back, and spreads rumors about his sexual orientation among co-workers. This behavior makes the victim feel deeply uncomfortable, anxious, and unable to focus on his job, creating a hostile work environment.

  This illustrates same-sex harassment because both the harasser and the victim are male, and the conduct is sexual in nature or targets the victim based on perceived gender non-conformity, making his work environment intolerable.

• Educational Setting (Power Dynamic/Psychological): Consider a female university professor who frequently makes demeaning comments about a female graduate student's appearance, questions her intelligence and femininity in front of peers, and assigns her tasks that are unrelated to her studies but are stereotypically female (e.g., organizing the professor's personal social events). This makes the student feel targeted, humiliated, and unable to succeed academically.

  Here, both individuals are female. The harassment is not necessarily sexual but is "because of sex" as it targets the student based on gender stereotypes and creates an intimidating and hostile educational environment, impacting her ability to learn and progress.

• Workplace Discriminatory Treatment (Non-Sexual but Sex-Based): In a corporate office, a female manager consistently assigns only the female employees on her team to perform administrative tasks like fetching coffee for meetings, tidying up the communal kitchen, or organizing social events, even though male employees with similar roles and seniority are given more substantive, career-advancing projects. When a female employee objects to this unequal distribution of labor, the manager dismisses her concerns with comments like, "That's just what women are naturally better at."

  This example demonstrates same-sex harassment where the conduct is not sexual but is discriminatory and based on sex. The female manager is treating female employees differently and unfavorably *because of their sex*, creating an unequal and potentially hostile work environment for them by reinforcing harmful gender stereotypes.