Los Angeles Sexual Assault Lawyer Blog

For anthropologists and graduate students who aspire to the career, the chance to engage in fieldwork is viewed as a golden opportunity.

However, a new survey conducted by a female anthropologist at the University of Illinois reveals a much darker side of these journeys.

Our Los Angeles sexual assault attorneys understand that of the hundreds of female survey respondents, nearly one quarter said they had endured some form of unwanted sexual contact or physical sexual harassment.

The vast majority of the victims were female, though a few males did respond that they too had been victimized.

The primary aggressor in these situations were either colleagues who were higher up on the professional ladder or in some cases, the mentor of the victim.

The study was born out of a conversation that the primary researcher had with a female colleague. A male colleague had raped her while the two were in the field on assignment. When she reported the incident to her mentor, he simply urged her to remain silent, if she wanted to continue advancing in her career.

The study author then began maintaining a blog, where she allowed fellow anthropologists to anonymously submit stories of how they had been sexually harassed or sexually assaulted in the field. It was a way to open the eyes of her colleagues as to what was going on.

For some of those who responded, they reported harassment and abuse that went on for years. One said that she has been questioned about why she didn't leave or speak up sooner. She said like so many others, she had invested years into the research and into her graduate program. Changing professors would have meant a significant delay in graduation. Others in the field may think her unreliable. New professors will want to know why it was she left, but it would be a tough question to answer. If she leaves, she could have a tough time getting a recommendation from her old professor. That's going to limit her options.

The study, which was recently presented at the yearly American Association of Physical Anthropologists meeting in Tennessee, was a way to take all of this a step further.

Among the findings:

• About 30 percent of both men and women reported that verbal abuse with regard to inappropriate or sexual remarks at field sites was experienced either regularly or frequently.


• With regard to inappropriate sexual remarks, 63 percent of female anthropologists answered that they had personally experienced this. About 40 percent of men said the same.


• Nearly 25 percent of women said they had experienced unwanted physical contact or physical sexual harassment on a field site, while a small percentage of men said the same.


• Less than 20 percent of these incidents involved the people within the community where the study site was located. Rather, the primary abusers were within the team of researchers, usually by someone higher up professionally.

Our Los Angeles Sexual Assault Lawyers want victims to understand that they are not alone. Even if the harassment occurred outside the country, the perpetrator, the school and others may still be held accountable for failing to prevent, failing to address and retaliation.