Despite continuing struggles, the history of the movement against sexual harassment is in many ways an incredible success story. The movement against sexual harassment emerged at the intersection of multiple social movements percolating in American society in the 1970s – the women's movements, the civil rights movement, the labor movement, the gay and lesbian rights movement, and the sexual revolution. The sexual revolution brought about changes in sexual morality and behavior, ushering in more open and positive attitudes toward sex. But as the sexual revolution articulated the right to engage in sex, the antirape movement asserted women's right to say no to sex and, along with the battered women's movement, asserted women's right to be free from physical violence. The women's health movement, including the reproductive rights movement, articulated women's right to control their bodies – for women to understand their health and be able to make decisions regarding medical care, including childbearing decisions. The women's movement protested the sexual objectification and exploitation of women and the lesbian rights movement supported women's sexual autonomy by asserting the right of women to choose other women as sexual and life partners. More generally, the women's and civil rights movements promised equal employment opportunity, without regard to sex or race. These movements offered women hopes of economic independence and sexual autonomy.

But the reality of sexual coercion in the workplace cut to the heart of these hopes. Sexual harassment denied women sexual autonomy, threatened their physical safety and integrity, deprived them of employment opportunities and, for women of color, was often a form of racism. At a time when women heavily populated the lower rungs of the workforce, but many aspired to work their way up, sexual harassment was a particularly personal and insulting form of discrimination. Not only were women not taken seriously as workers, but they were treated as sexual objects. The issue of sexual coercion in the workplace was first raised by lesbian feminists and African-American women working in the civil rights movement, but quickly spread to women in a range of contexts, including nontraditional occupations and educational institutions. The strength of the movement was how this diverse group of women was able to work in coalition across differences to achieve major social change in American society.