Sexual Misconduct Policies: Secretly Biased?

Sexual misconduct occurs daily and to both sexes; society, however, has preconceptions that such acts only occur to females. Universities share this opinion to a certain extent, as evidenced by sections of their policies. However, most of university regulations are gender neutral due to the growing interest concerning gender inequality and sexual misbehavior. In addition to their own regulations, a majority of university policies also include state and federal law to emphasize the severity of sexual misconduct. Additionally, although a certain degree of implicit gender bias exists in some of the university policies, it is not enough to change them; in fact, all of the policies use calculated words and verbiage in order to avoid gender discrimination. In this way, the policies are predominantly gender neutral due to society’s rising concern with inequity and the impact of gender favoritism.

In addition to the policies university campuses implement, state and federal laws also prohibit and regulate certain behavior that is considered sexual harassment or misconduct. Most universities, therefore, establish rules and regulations that comply with state and federal law but that also go

On the contrary, the University of Southern California and the University of Maryland imply gender inequality in the organization and diction of their respective policies. The University of Southern California, for example, specifically and carefully uses the words “person,” “victim” and “survivor” to distinguish the roles involved in sexual harassment and misconduct, but keep the designated roles gender neutral (“University”). However, the University constantly places the female before the male when referring to sexual misconduct. For instance, the University’s policy states that “a survivor may wish to preserve her or his privacy after a traumatic experience” (“University”). The placement of the female possessive pronoun before the male possessive pronoun implies an attitude towards gender consisting of the fact that sexual misconduct occurs more frequently to females. Traditionally, the male pronoun has encompassed both genders, while the use of the female pronoun limits the group of people involved to strictly be female. For example, the use of the word “they” can refer to a mixed group, all males, or all females; if both male and female pronouns are used, the male pronoun is customarily always placed before the female. The deliberate placing of the female pronoun before the male pronoun, therefore, is extremely important in the implicit attitudes toward gender concerning sexual harassment. Additionally, the University of Maryland’s sexual harassment policy includes the fact that “sexual harassment is offensive sexual behavior by persons in authority towards those who can be benefited or injured in an official capacity. Therefore, it is primarily an issue of abuse of power, not sex” (“Sexual”). Although the diction appears to be gender neutral, persons in power are usually male, due to their physical build and natural strength over women. The average male is larger and stronger than a typical female, which lends way to many sexual harassment cases. The fact that the University of Maryland states that people in power are usually the offenders, it is implied then that offenders are usually male. Thus, the organization of language and explanation of sexual misconduct gives rise to gender discrimination consisting of the notion that males commit sexual offenses while females are the victims of such.

In a similar way, the University of Maryland cites specific laws and amendments to emphasize their own policy in addition to their policy’s gender neutrality. First, the University of Maryland states that “sexual harassment is an illegal form of se

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