More Men File Sex Harassment Suits

Number Of Cases Filed Has Nearly Doubled In Ten Years

(CBS)  The bright lights of politics and power may have drawn Golan Cipel to America, but it's the unforgiving spotlight of sex and scandal that forced him home to Israel, reports CBS News Correspondent Byron Pitts.

Speaking to reporters in Hebrew, Cipel said, "I have had a very difficult time. I've come to be with family."

If, as his lawyer claims, Cipel goes ahead with plans to file a sexual harassment lawsuit against New Jersey Governor James McGreevey, the case promises to be salacious - unprecedented in American politics.

But in the court of law, "He said - He said" is as simple as any other sexual harassment case:

"Proving that one man has sexually harassed another is no different than proving that a man sexually harassed a woman," said Peggy Mastroianni of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The U.S. Supreme Court made that clear in 1998 in the case of Joseph Oncale, who claimed he was harassed and threatened with rape by three male co-workers on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

In the past 10 years the number of sexual harassment cases filed by men has nearly doubled, from 9 percent in '93 to nearly 15 percent (14.7) in 2003.

For his part. Governor McCreevey claims the sex was consensual.

Cipel's lawyer says it was coerced - the boss pressuring an underling for sex, pure and simple.

When it comes to a man accusing someone of sexual harassment, the issue may be simple in a court of law, but in the court of public opinion, convincing a jury of men and women may not be so simple.

Hollywood took on that issue: actor Michael Douglas accusing his boss - actress Demi Moore - of unwanted sexual advances.

In the movie, they settled out of court. Legal analysts say this real life drama will likely end the same.