Sexual Harassment

Leslie Starosta

Research paper #2

In our patriarchal society men have been seen as the ones with an ascribed status of power. This power was first used to define roles within the family setting. Now this same power is being used to discriminate against women in the workplace. Once women were allowed to work along side of men, their power was threatened with the competition between the sexes for better opportunities. This struggle between the groups has caused a new issue to arise. Sexual harassment has been defined as “unwanted and offensive sexual advances or of sexually offensive remarks or acts” which is used to degrade another person in order to feel superior. (Dictionary.com). The purpose of this essay is to examine the history and the future of this modern social problem.

If this melodrama were to be mapped out years ago it would have declared that men are the villains, women the victims and that the hero was the government trying to pass laws against discrimination. In some cases the employer could also be seen as either the villain if it was a quid pro quo situation or if they are the ones trying to ease the tensions in the workplace they could also be seen as a hero. The claims makers were women who initially felt belittled in the work environment due to unwanted advancements from their colleagues. However, things have changed over the last few years which incorporate a new melodrama scenario and a more broad view of the claims makers. Men now also feel that they are being harassed in the workplace by women. This means that our original model of our melodrama would not fit since even though he is the one being victimized, according to the model he would still be seen as the villain. People would have made a claim that he brought it on himself or that he was making a story up. To fully encompass all situations of sexual harassment the villains are the people, men or women, who are victimizing others. The victims are anyone who feels that they are being sexually harassed or discriminated against.

Women were first accepted into the workforce after WWII when the women had to take over in the factories. After the men returned women were unwilling to give up their jobs. As more and more women were entering the workforce the fight for equal rights were beginning. With the help of many feminist movements women were given a part in the Affirmative Action law. This law was first written to give minority groups the same rights as white children in the education system. Over the years it has adopted different functions as an all encompassing anti-discrimination act. In 1963 women were given equal pay to men under this act and one year later they strengthen their law by disabling employers from hiring based on color, race, sex, religion or national origin. In 1987, Workforce 2000 estimated that women and other minority workers would account for a growing percentage of the workforce throughout the century. (Jost). Even though these efforts were made to help stop discrimination in the workforce, there is still a struggle between men and women for better job opportunities and pay options. To try and force women out of the workplace men used any tactics they could. Sexual harassment was used to single women out and degrade them as people. In the eyes of the employers, they saw sexual harassment as a bonus for their workers. Quid pro quo is a phrase that means this for that meaning that whatever the employee would do for the boss, the boss would advance that person in the workplace. A supervisor would compromise his female employees so that if they did something for him he would in turn promote them.

This is a preview of the whole essay

According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) sexual harassment is defined as “unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature….when submission to or rejection of this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual's employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual's work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.” The keyword in this definition is that in order for a situation to be ruled as sexual harassment the advance from the other person must be unwanted. The victim and the harasser can be of either sex including harassment from people of the same sex. Often times discrimination is from a supervisor or person of power to a lower status employee. All cases are not subject to these same applications but can be from non-workers or other co-workers. (EEOC). There are many ways in which harassment can be defined. Quid pro quo has already been discussed where the superviosr is the one making advance for a this for that arrangement. Another form is constructive discharge where the victim is made to feel so uncomfortable in the workplace that they are forced to leave. Upon quitting, they would first need to inform the employer of the situation and file that the reason for leaving was discrimination. There is also a law against retaliation which singles out the victim and ridicules them for either refusing the sexual advances or for taking action if the suit is already in the courts. (Wyatt). The first action that must take place to stop this harassment from continuing is to tell the offender to stop and that the gestures or remarks they are making are unwanted. If the offender still does not stop a person should got o their supervisor, or the person in charge if the supervisor is the offender, in order to explain the situation and fill out a sexual harassment report. The EEOC then looks at the cases and finds ways to settle them in or out of court. (EEOC)

Sexual harassment suits started to become more popular after the Anita Hill case. Anita hill was an African American woman who worked for the EEOC and felt that her supervisor was sexually harassing her. This case made more people aware of the situation and soon there were more sexual harassment allegations going to the courts. In the federal court system one out of five suits are for sexual harassment trials. Due to this rise of nearly four times what it was a decade ago, insurance companies now offer “employment practice liability coverage.” This insurance will cover legal fees, damages incurred and settlements made in sexual harassment or discrimination trials. (Economist). Since more people are aware of the popularity of these cases, many decide to settle out of court to avoid high costs in legal fees and personal turmoil for the plaintiffs.

A recent study used college students as mock jurors to decide whether or not attractiveness of the defendant had an affect on the decision of guilt for sexual harassment cases. In this study they found that defendants who were more attractive usually received a more lenient sentence than those who were physically unattractive. The students explained that their reason for thinking that a more attractive person deserved a more lenient sentenced was because they were attractive enough to get any person they wanted and could not be seen as sexually harassing another person. A non-attractive person was seen to have more guilt because along with their physical appearance they were seen to have more emotional and mental conditions that would affect their behavior. (Wuensch). In some situations where the defendant is attractive many feel that the victim is falsely accusing them because they feel sexual tension or intimidation from that person. There are some instances where the victim was really the one who felt an attraction for the other person but after being denied they felt they could get their revenge by accusing the defendant of sexual harassment.

As sexual harassment is getting widely well known in the workplace, men are now taking the stance of the victim in the situation. More men are feeling that their female or male co-workers are discriminating them in the workplace. Most of these cases are of male vs. male discrimination. These cases have grown from 9% in 1992 to 15% in 2003. (Armour). People would think that since these cases have grown so rapidly and so has the occurrence of homosexuals in the workplace that most of the male against male discrimination is also a form of anti-gay movements. However, most of these cases include “macho” behavior between colleagues that often makes one person feel uncomfortable in those situations. This includes discussing personal relationships, comparing physical appearance between workers, and often times what is termed to be macho touching or grabbing by members of the same sex. The statistics have been growing in the past years where now seventeen percent of men say they have been sexually harassed in comparison to thirty five percent of women. (Armour).

The EEOC as well as many employers are doing as much as possible to limit sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace. They have put out training videos and pamphlets which inform employees of the definitions and scenarios of sexual harassment. By defining these terms in their environment it gives the employees an understanding of their rights as workers. It also lets them know the consequences if they are the ones discriminating against a co-worker. In order to better eliminate these cases there should be more mandatory workshops that all employees need to attend in order to discuss issues and be more open with one another. This way people could feel close enough to their co-workers to explain situations that they may not feel comfortable with and to work them out in a group environment rather than one on one. Other things that should be done are to add more awareness to the growing number of cases of male against male sexual harassment. If this were talked about more the numbers of cases would diminish because people would be more aware of their actions in the workplace. The last thing that should be done is for larger corporations to have a qualified psychologist in the building. Their function would be to talk to all employees about their mental stability as well as to console those who feel discriminated against in the workplace.

Sexual harassment has rapidly spread as a modern social problem in our society. What first started out with the intentions of ridding women in the workplace has escaladed into a national problem of discrimination against all types of people. In order for future generations to not feel the same harassment that is in today’s workplace, awareness needs to be spread throughout the country to better insure that all people know their rights and the consequences of their actions. Now is the time to start the breakdown of discrimination and harassment in the workplace before it spreads to all environments.

Bibliography

Armour, Stephanie. “More Men Say They Are Sexually Harassed At Work”. USA Today. 17 Sept 2004. Academic Search Elite. 19 Oct 2004. search.epnet.com.library.lib.asu.edu:80/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cooki e,ip,url,uid&db=afh&an=J0E311903286704

Dictionary.com. Keyword: sexual harassment.

“Facts About Sexual Harassment”. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity _ Commission. 27 June 2002. Accessed: 19 Oct 2004.

Jones, Del. “Cupid Lurks In Cubicles, So What’s a Worker To Do”. USA Today. 02 Apr 2004. Academic Search Elite. 19 Oct 2004. search.epnet.com.library.lib.asu.edu:80/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType= cookie,ip,url,uid&db=afh&an=J0E151718878104

Jost, Kenneth. "Diversity in the Workplace." The CQ Researcher Online 7.38 (1997). 20 October 2004 <http://0- library.cqpress.com.library.lib.asu.edu:80/cqresearcher/cqresrre1997101000>. Document ID: cqresrre1997101000.

“Women in Suits”. Economist. Vol. 362. 2 Mar 2002. Issue 8262, p60, 2p, 1c. Academic Search Elite. search.epnet.com.library.lib.asu.edu:80/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cooki e,ip,url,uid&db=afh&an=6266516

Wuensch, Karl L., and Moore, Charles H.. “Effects of Physical Attractiveness on Evaluations of a Male Employee's Allegation of Sexual Harassment by His Female Employer”. Journal of Social Psychology Vol. 144. Apr 2004 Issue 2, p207, 11. Academic Search Elite. 19 Oct 2004. search.epnet.com.library.lib.asu.edu:80/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cooki e,ip,url,uid&db=afh&an=12905541

Wyatt, Nancy. “Legal Definitions of Sexual Harassment”. Aug 200. Accessed: 19 Oct 2004.