Why do students and professors worry about Title IX and the U. S. EEOC regulations? You may wonder when the news presents a repetitive occurrence of coercive sexual harassment at work or academia. A group of women could course men, while a group of men could blame women for wearing attire that ‘invites’ them and gives them the ‘right’ to act. Perceptual laws will take over minds, and observers will see less humanity in either gender camp. Our ancestors used to call the relationship between women and men mysterious as it could not be understood and changed. 

Broadly speaking, social norms encourage interactions between opposite-gender individuals, while gender groups sanction sexual behavior in accordance with their norms, conducive to increasing reproductive success. The public is familiar with the biological explanation of sexual relationships. However, continuous conflicts about the ‘norms’ of intergender relationships signal social and psychological dimensions; moreover, the conflicts cause reoccurring socio-emotional harm. Take, for example, any context where two people of different gender interact. In addition, each one aims to achieve a specific goal in the context. Aside from biological, a historical perspective also plays a role in the persistent repetitiveness of intergender behavior. Often, a third party carries the burden of judging the amount of benefit or harm occurring to each interacting person. Also, groups differing in social status and power, contest equity because the dimensions frequently represent areas of social privilege or burden.