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In the Dellinger and Williams article, the research focuses on two magazine publishers, Gentleman’s Sophisticate and Womyn. In the former, the workplace is highly sexualized because the material itself is sexual. People see the sexual atmosphere as part of their jobs, though it could be construed as sexual harassment. The idea is that people are supposed to know what they are getting into when they join the magazine, and if they cannot handle the sexually charged atmosphere, they should leave. People in GS use humor to cope, usually revolving around the content in the magazines. When sexual innuendo and behavior crosses into personal spheres, however, employees believe harassment has occurred. The authors emphasize that sexual harassment is seen here as an individual problem, not an organizational issue. In contrast, Womyn magazine’s employees feel that talking about sexual content is part of the atmosphere. People talk about their personal lives, and because this is tolerated, the lines between what is acceptable and unacceptable are blurred. The employees at Womyn seemed think themselves immune to sexual harassment because they claimed to share a common belief in what sexual harassment is, and without men, they didn’t seem to think it was a possibility. In either context, GS or Womyn, however, sexual harassment was present, albeit in potentially different forms and with different solutions as to solving them.
What struck me about this article was the employees at Womyn. The presumed shared belief in what sexual harassment, as well as the idea that all women (especially the educated, self-proclaimed feminists who work at the magazine) would rise above it, is naïve. Women are capable of harassing others, even learned ones. To blame sexual harassment entirely on men is just ignorant. The highly sexualized nature of either workplace environment is the key culprit in the system of sexual harassment; the lack of discernible boundaries at Womyn, however, seems a greater risk for such behaviors in the workplace. With an assumed belief of what sexual harassment is, coworkers feel free to share sexual ideas, not questioning whether or not the inclusion of this material is offensive to some, never mind all.
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I have to blame the media a little bit for this one (as most things!) Look at Sex and the City, a show that is derived from 4 women just sitting around having explicit conversations. Extrapolate that to shows even for kid's that deal with talking about crushes and kisses. We see it as a norm to discuss sexual behavior, and I think that it is considered glamorous to have constant chats about sexual subjects, not taking into account a factor of discomfort by any party. We are bombarded with sexuality so consistently that we tend to disobey boundaries.
ReplyDeleteI think part of it is that there are few topics that catch everyone's interest as quickly as sex. Also, sex is something about which most people have something to say; while sports, politics, and the weather have always been traditional, there are a lot of people who don't give a crap about how the Yankees are doing this season. (Please don't hurt me, Yankees' fans!) I think it's great that people like talking about sexual topics - positions, toys, who did what with whom - but are surprisingly mum about the stuff that might actually matter. Intimacy, for one. Female masturbation, which, despite jokes on S&tC, is usually a no-no topic for men and women. Men joke about jacking it 24/7, but if I were to make a joke about getting carpal tunnel because I get myself off three times a day, I bet everyone would stop and stare at me, with holy-shit-you-just-said-that faces. Six men performing a circle jerk on one hapless woman is mundane in the world of porn, but God forbid a woman who doesn't fake her orgasm! In class, we talked about women's pleasure being absent from society, and I think, despite talking about vibrators, lubes, and positions endlessly, we don't talk explicitly and often enough about pleasure.
ReplyDeleteThe multifaceted way that people view sexual harassment is interesting. In many spheres, it has become a sort of joke, something that people don't take all that seriously, due to the workplace environment or the worry about misinterpretations of something innocent. It depends a lot on the environment and the coworkers themselves, but it seems like across the board, there is a certain amount of blurring of the line between acceptable and unacceptable. In that respect, can we say that there should be one rigid definition of sexual harassment, or should we take it on a case by case (that is, workplace by workplace) basis?
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