Sexuality and sex in mentoring and tutoring: Implications for women's opportunities and achievement

Abstract

The authors describe primarily negative implications that sexuality and sex have on women's opportunities and achievement in grooming mentoring, networking mentoring, and tutoring relationships. They conclude that grooming mentoring, which usually involves male mentors and female proteges, has the greatest potential to be exploitative and result in inequitable outcomes when sexuality and sex are introduced into these relationships. This conceptual article suggests a research agenda focused on the incidence of sex and sexuality in mentoring and tutoring and effects on development of those relationships, as well as on women's opportunities and achievement.