I doubt that is the reason.
If this really were a significant problem, there would be all sorts of researchers getting grants trying to make PhD theses or scholarly journal articles out of it. Of course, it's a major problem to the people who are damaged by improper sexual advances, but OTOH that happens in all areas of life, including many workplaces, so unless it's at an unusual level, it's really a dog bites man rather than man bites dog sort of story. Not to excuse it, but it isn't the sort of serious problem area that would attract research grants and researchers.
And I haven't heard of very many lawsuits over improper sexual harassment by therapists. If it were happening to any extent, I suspect that there would be a body of law around it and a number of tort lawyers making a living off it, as they do, for example, in the case of workplace sexual harassment. But if the suits are happening, they're low key. I wonder what the insurance rates for therapists are -- that would tell us how seriously the insurance companies rate the problem.
The lack of research doesn't, of course, prove the absence of a serious problem. And as I said, a problem that isn't serious in the broad context of society at large can still e very serious to the individual affected. But OTOH, the lack of such research seems to suggest that it isn't something that the funding agencies (and they tend to be fairly liberal with dollars chasing perceived problems) feel deserves much attention. |
