A Shocking Number of People Think Women Are Making False #metoo Claims, New Study Finds

By Catherine Cortez Masto
Fortune
April 4, 2018

https://www.glamour.com/story/a-shocking-number-of-people-think-women-are-making-false-metoo-claims-new-study-finds

PHOTO: NURPHOTO/GETTY IMAGES

A new study from the Pew Research Center is diving deeper into how Americans feel about sexual harassment at work in the #MeToo era—and it's not all good news. While culturally it has felt for months like a real shift has happened in this country, there are still some underlying doubts in the minds of many and more patriarchal strongholds deeply in place than one might hope.

The study surveyed 6251 adults in the U.S. and found that "many Americans also believe the increased focus on sexual harassment and assault poses new challenges for men as they navigate their interactions with women at work." Over half (51 percent) believe that the recent developments have made it harder for men to interact with women at work. Only 28 percent of people believe that focusing on sexual harassment will lead to better opportunities for women at work, and 51 percent say it won't make much of a difference. And the whole notion of believing women? That's a bit of a sore spot too. When asked about women falsely claiming sexual harassment/assault, only 22 percent of those polled said it was "not a problem." A much larger percentage categorized it as a major (31 percent) or minor (45 percent) issue.

All of this data is somewhat frustrating, but perhaps we shouldn't be all that surprised. We knew trying to change the power structure inside offices across the country was never going to be easy, and long-held beliefs about how things have always been done are usually slow to change. But a bubbling undercurrent of doubt about the believability of women coming forward with their stories is definitely something we must keep an eye on.

The study does show that movements like #MeToo and Time's Up have not been underestimating the scope of sexual harassment problem. About six out of 10 women surveyed say that they have been sexually harassed (compared with 27 percent of men.) And of those women who have been harassed over half (55 percent) say that it has happened both in and outside of work.

And so the fight goes on.