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 into more detail explicitly concerning inappropriate behavior. The University of California, Santa Barbara, for example, states that "every member of the University community should be aware that the University is strongly opposed to sexual harassment and that such behavior is prohibited both by law and University policy" ("Policy"). The statement is completely gender neutral in that it does not limit sexual misdemeanors to males or females, but rather encompasses both genders and any variations of such with the phrase "every member." Furthermore, the University clearly states that their policies coincide with state law, which serves as a foundation for most university guidelines.
