Installing Circuit Breakers: Mechanisms to Avoid Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

This paper suggests that a synergy is both possible and necessary between two traditionally distinct management approaches: the Weberian approach, which contends that the bureaucratic structure of a company affects the daily activities of employees, and the human relations model, which holds that small group leadership dynamics at the divisional/department level affects daily activities of employees. The tendency within organizations is to promote one approach over the other. A resolution to the debate is suggested in applying mechanisms to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. Indeed, the courts have inadvertently pointed the way: the reasonable woman standard urges a human relations approach to resolving the problem of sexual harassment, placing the burden of solving the problem on supervisor personnel and their ability to direct their employee's behavior; the hostile environment issues promotes a Weberian structural solution, requiring sound policy be developed at the executive level to ensure workplace compliance to appropriate normative behavior. A one-sided approach is doomed to failure, which may explain why the issue continues to rage in the corporate sphere.     

Perceptions of Sexual Harassment

This paper focuses on people's perceptions of sexual harassment. Definitions of sexual harassment are presented, previous studies of sexual harassment are reviewed, and the results of a two-part study are presented. Examined are the possible influence of sex, gender role socialization, organizational and socio-cultural power differentials, and type and severity of behavior on perceptions of sexual harassment. The data suggest that gender role socialization is the primary influence on perceptions of sexual harassment.     

‘It's Just Something that Happens’: the Invisibility of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

This paper critically examines the construction and definition of sexual harassment — both in policy documents and in everyday life experiences — in order to consider why it is often invisible in the workplace. Drawing on semi-structured interview data, it explores, in particular, the ways in which accounts of experiences of sexual harassment effectively minimize both its incidence and its importance. Finally, it considers the implications of this in order more effectively to combat sexual harassment in the workplace.     

Risk and Ideology in Sexual Harassment

One explanation of sexual harassment is that it is the result of differences in organizational or individual authority between harasser and victim. A competing conceptualization suggests that much of what is termed sexual harassment is the result of a particular definition of the situation by women possessing nontraditional or feminist gender-role ideologies. Using a sample of university faculty, students and staff, this study examines the relationship among organizational position, demographic risk factors, and gender-role ideology on the self-reported incidence of sexual harassment. The findings show little relation exists between the various risk factors and the report of harassment in this sample.     

Sexual Harassment and the Construction of Ethnographic Knowledge

It is not uncommon for women researchers to experience sexualized interactions, sexual objectification, and harassment as they conduct fieldwork. Nevertheless, these experiences are often left out of ethnographers’ “tales from the field” and remain unaddressed within our discipline. In this article, we use women's experiences with harassment in the field to interrogate the epistemological foundations of ethnographic methodology within the discipline of sociology. Based on more than 50 qualitative interviews, we examine three “fixations” of contemporary ethnography that inform women ethnographers’ understandings of and reactions to harassment in the field. These fixations are solitude, danger, and intimacy. Our data show that these fixations not only put researchers in danger but also have implications for the construction of ethnographic knowledge. They contribute to silence surrounding sexual harassment, and are motivated by and reproduce androcentric norms that valorize certain types of fieldwork. We argue that acknowledging and analyzing experiences with harassment and other unwanted sexual attention in the field is part of a more fully developed understanding of ethnographic research itself.     

Sexual Behaviors and Sexually Transmitted Diseases of Lesbians

ABSTRACT

The Boston Lesbian Health Project surveyed 1633 lesbians about their health status, health related behaviors and health problems. This paper reports on those parts of the questionnaire that dealt with sexual behaviors and sexually transmitted diseases. The sample was predominantly monogamous, but few had been in their present relationship for more than five years. Sexual practices were similar to those reported in previous studies of lesbians and to those reported in a study of heterosexual women. Sexually transmitted diseases were rare in women who had never had sex with a male partner. The majority of the sample did report a history of male sexual partners and therefore are at risk for abnormal pap smears and other sexually transmitted diseases.     

Sexual Harassment as an Exercise of Power

This article argues that the key to the explanation as to why sexual harassment is a feature of organizational life lies in the issue of power. Yet there has been little attempt to link sexual harassment with theories or explanatory models of power. This article first takes Lukes's (1986) three‐dimensional model as a framework to explore how harassment may be understood as an exercise of power at different levels then shows how radical feminist and post‐structuralist analyses overlap with and are distinct from Lukes's third dimension of power.     

Ending Sexual Harassment: Protecting the Progress of #MeToo

ABSTRACT

How can we best protect and safeguard the progress of the #MeToo movement? This article presents 11 reforms designed to ensure the movement’s drive toward justice. These fall into three areas. The first concern process reforms designed to (a) protect all those involved—accusers and the accused—in investigations of sexual harassment, (b) end differential treatment of those found guilty, and (c) ensure punishments are commensurate with the crime and proportional in terms of other transgressors. The second set of reforms focus on transparency of the process, including clarifying (a) how to file charges, (b) who makes decisions, (c) relevant public information on how charges and procedures are followed, (d) what transgressions result in which punishments, and (e) how complaints are investigated to protect the rights and privacy of all. Finally, I address cultural issues that address (a) our portrayal of women, (b) our societal attempts to prepare young people so they can better protect themselves, and (c) attempts to encourage bystanders to intervene in the face of sexual harassment of others.     

Factors Influencing the Sexual Relationships of Lesbians and Gay Men

ABSTRACT

This study examined the rewards and costs that lesbians and gay men experience in their sexual relationships. Participants were 23 lesbians and 15 gay men who completed questionnaires and participated in a semi-structured interview. Frequently identified sexual rewards included emotional and physical intimacy, feeling accepted and supported, communication, and a positive view of self. Sexual costs included feeling vulnerable and negative social and cultural attitudes toward same-sex relationships. Sexual rewards and costs tended to cluster into three main categories: relationship factors, sexual factors, and factors related to being a sexual minority. The participants' responses illustrate the limitations of applying conventional (biomedical) models of sexual response to men as well as to women. Moreover, they strengthen calls for theories of sexual functioning that are based on diverse experiences and that consider sociocultural, political, economic, relational, psychological, and medical factors.     

工作场所中的性骚扰

诸多国家的研究和文献表明,女性是性骚扰的主要受害群体。受害女性的态度是怎样的？单位和社会对于受害者和侵害者的态度又是怎样的？     

Improving Measurement of Workplace Sexual Identity Management

The purpose of this study was to advance measurement of sexual identity management for lesbian, gay, and bisexual workers. Psychometric properties of a revised version of the Workplace Sexual Identity Management Measure (WSIMM; Anderson, Croteau, Chung, & DiStefano, 2001) were examined on a sample of 64 predominantly White K‐12 teachers. Reliability and validity data support the usefulness of the revised WSIMM for measuring sexual identity management. Additional research is needed to improve measurement of passing strategies and to further examine dimensionality of sexual identity management.     

Sexual Harassment in Public Places: Experiences of Canadian Women*

Des chercheurs ont étudié les cas de harcèlement sexuel en milieu de travail et dans les universités. En collaboration avec des experts judiciaires, ils ont conceptualisé le harcelement sexuel et en ont fait une question de droits de la personne. Notre recherche, fondée sur un sondage effectue en 1992 auprès de 1 990 femmes canadiennes, réVéle que le harcèlement sexuel se produit aussi dans les lieux publics. Nous présentons des données inédites sur le sujet en exa-minant le type, la fréquence et la gravité du harcèlement, les carac-téristiques des femmes le plus susceptibles d'être harcetées, les implications pouvant servir à bâtir une théone sur le harcèlement dans les lieux publics, les réactions des femmes a l'égard du harcèlement ainsi que ses conséquences sur les plans émotionnel et psychologique. Researchers have expended much effort studying sexual harassment in the workplace and universities. Together with legal experts, they have conceptualized sexual harassment as a human-rights issue: a form of sexual discrimination that typically occurs in relationships of unequal power. Our research, based on a 1992 survey o{ 1,990 Canadian women, suggests sexual harassment is also prevalent in public places such as streets, transit systems and malls. We supply rare data about sexual harassment in public places by examining the types, frequency, and severity of harassment; the characteristics of women most likely to be harassed; the theoretical implications of public harassment; women's responses to harassment; and its emotional and psychological effects.     

Mentoring,Sexual Harassment,and Black Women Academics

ABSTRACT

The #MeToo Movement both within academia and popular culture has largely been seen as an issue for white women (and men). While the phrase Me Too was originally coined by Tarana Burke in 2006 to raise public awareness of sexual harassment, violence and assault experienced by women of color, the Movement has largely been whitewashed by primarily depicting victims and survivors as white women. Black women academics, like myself, also experience sexual harassment. By highlighting the ways that race-based sexual harassment further marginalizes already underrepresented groups in political science, I use my personal story to elucidate how a gender-only lens misses the complexities of Black women’s experiences with power inequities in academia. Throughout this narrative I underscore the importance of mentorship, professional networks, and the ability to harness scholarship as a vehicle to combat the pervasiveness of sexual harassment, violence, and assault for Black women in political science.     

Sexual Politics in the Workplace: The Interactional World of Policewomen

This paper examines the dynamics of male-female interaction in one work setting—the backstage region of a police department—and explores the variety of ways that policewomen are pressured to “stay in their place” by male coworkers. Policewomen face interpersonal dilemmas because as police officers they are expected to behave like colleagues (i.e. as status equals); as women they are expected to behave as status subordinates. This paper investigates a number of the techniques by which female officers' gender is made salient and male officers assert dominance over female officers. The verbal techniques employed include the use of euphemisms, affectionate terms of address, cursing, joking and putdowns, and gossip. Non-verbal messages are transmitted by the use of personal space, touch, and chivalrous ceremonies. In addition the problems posed by sexuality and sexual harassment in the workplace are discussed. Data are based on nine months of participant observation and 55 interviews with officers in one police district in Washington, D.C.     

“高校性骚扰”校内治理规则的法理阐发

在当下应对高校性骚扰的进程中,现有法律及相关规范性文件并未专门构建出应对这一问题的细致框架,司法权力往往也难以有效介入。校内治理规则之于法治的基础功用决定了这一规则体系应当成为防治高校性骚扰的首要制度性规范。借鉴美国的经验,校内治理规则应在明晰高校性骚扰的规范意涵并设立专门机构的基础上,构建校内处理流程并规定配套措施,划定应对高校性骚扰的举报、受理、调查、复核、认定与处理工作的具体步骤。此外,应创制行政救济程序并完善现有的司法程序,实现公权力救济程序与校内治理流程的制度衔接。     

Sexual Harassment in Casinos: Effects on Employee Attitudes and Behaviors

This study focuses on sexual harassment and job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and employee turnover among casino employees. It is the first study investigating sexual harassment in the gaming industry. Based on sex-role spillover theory it was expected that sexual harassment has less of an impact on casino employees than on employees in other industries. Six Reno, Nevada casinos participated in the study and 330 responses were generated from casino employees. The study results show that sexual harassment of and by casino employees is perceived to occur at about the same rate as in other industries. Sexually harassed employees were compared to employees who indicated that they had not been sexually harassed. Sexually harassed employees were less satisfied with their jobs and less committed to the organization. However, they were not more likely to quit their jobs. Sexually harassed employees tended to be younger, Caucasian, and in dealer positions. Hence, in addition to the well-publicized cost of sexual harassment lawsuits, the study shows that sexual harassment in casinos may well be the source of hidden costs important to human resources managers. A result of major interest was that employees who had been harassed held management responsible for not ensuring a work environment that is free of sexual harassment. Implications for casino management are discussed.     

Work,Bodies and Boundaries: Talking Sexual Harassment in the New Economy

This article examines sexual harassment in the context of the new economy and highlights the manner in which the changing nature of work — and in particular the acknowledged rise of sexualized ‘body work’ — troubles conventional understandings of what constitutes sexual harassment in the workplace and the means to address it. Using data from a small‐scale qualitative study of service workers and professional employees, we explore the ways in which those definitions of sexual harassment now fail to match participants' accounts of their working lives. We examine sexual harassment in the context of the rise of service roles that require forms of increasingly sexualized ‘body work’ from employees, increased demands for workers to ‘self‐manage’, and new flexible modes of employment that blur the boundaries between being ‘on’ and ‘off’ the job. We conclude that these ‘new’ modes of work may provide the conditions for the revival of ‘old’ stories which limit the capacity of individuals to recognize and label behaviours as ‘sexual harassment’.     

Sexual Harassment,Subtle or Overt,Gnaws at Productivity

No abstract available for this article.