Male-on-male sex complaints escalating.

• Position: Your Life - Sexual harassment

The Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (GenderPAC) states that Equal Employment Opportunity Commission statistics show that the reporting of male-on-male sexual harassment in the workplace is on the rise. Claims filed by men accounted for 15% of all complaints in 2003, up from nine percent in 1992. According to the EEOC, an overwhelming majority of the almost 2,000 new claims made by men were male-on-male harassment.

Male-on-male sexual harassment includes bullying that utilizes sexual taunts, simulated sex acts, feminine pronouns, and threats of sexual aggression. Like lockerroom bullying, it usually is directed at a less aggressive coworker or subordinate employee. Its purpose is to humiliate and undermine respect for the victim by putting him in a feminine role that publicly challenges his masculinity.

"The lockerroom culture has no place in the workplace today," states Riki Wilchins, executive director of GenderPAC. "More and more corporations are recognizing that and are expanding their nondiscrimination policies and providing their employees with effective training. We are at the beginning of changing long-held attitudes and behaviors that are harmful to men and women."

Major employers recently...