Man-on-man job complaints soaring.

• Position: YOUR LIFE - Sexual harassment on males

With no fanfare and little media attention, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released its 2006 statistics on job discrimination with the news that complaints were on the rise for the first time in four years. As a result, the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (GenderPAC) has called on the government and Corporate America to address the underlying causes of gender-based harassment, which accounted for nearly one-third of all complaints.

"Lockerroom bullying that enforces codes of masculinity on the job continues to create hostile workplaces," charges Riki Wilchins, executive director of GenderPAC. "As more male employees realize such behavior is now actionable, they are filing suit."

A record-breaking 15.4% of sexual harassment cases were filed by men in 2006, a category of complainants that has been increasing steadily over the past decade. The EEOC does not track the gender of the accused aggressors. However, independent research of court records validates that the majority of these cases are male-on-male harassment. The Supreme Court laid the groundwork for prosecuting such harassment in the landmark 1998 Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore...