Phenomenon of Sexual Harassment - Essay Example

Running Head Sexual Harassment Sexual Harassment Introduction In spite of great changes in social relation legislation, sexual harassment is still a main social problem. Most Americans think that people should be treated equally regardless of their sex. But we do not all agree on what that means. Nor do we agree on how to overcome inequalities that do exist between males and females in society. Women's experience of harassment is not simply in the immediate incident, but is compounded by the responses of social institutions to mistreatment, discrimination, harassment, and violence that perpetuate and reproduce the violence in women's lives. Women's experience of violence and the social and institutional responses to this violence vary by the identities of victims and perpetrators and the specific historical and social contexts. The victim-blaming, the apathy, the indifference, and sometimes contempt and hostility women face from police, from family members, from teachers, from hospital personnel, and from judges and juries are informed by women's social identities, locations, and histories. The mostly negative responses to women who experience violence are often as hurtful as the incidents because they reinforce the messages that women are to blame, that women deserve to be abused, that women accept oppression, and that women are unworthy of social justice. Sexual Harassment Defined Sexual harassment is defined as "unwelcome behavior of a sexual nature" (Dobrich 2002, p. 4). It is common for female employees to be subjected to unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. Although not illegal per se, such behavior is illegal when it is used by managers and supervisors to decide whether to hire or fire someone; when it is used to determine pay, promotion, or job assignment; and when it creates a hostile, or offensive work environment. "Examples of verbal harassment could include sexual comments, suggestions, jokes, or innuendos; nonverbal harassment could include suggestive looks, leering, or ogling; and physical harassment could include accidentally brushing against someone's body, 'friendly' pats, squeezes or pinches, and forced exual relations" ( Webb, 1981, p. 5 cited Howard 2007, p. 7). In the last thirty years, the feminist struggle to end sexual harassment against women has sought to create language to describe, to protest, and to transform the conditions of our lives. Activists created and redefined terms such as "battered woman, " "wife battering, " and "sexual harassment, " among others, to clarify the social and political ramifications of interpersonal/institutional violence against women. Yet this language often gets incorporated into a social landscape that pathologizes women rather than critically analyzes the social underpinnings of the violence. As bell hooks says of the term "battered woman" (Vivian and Pharm 1998). Signs of sexual Harassment Sexual harassment involves the victimization, the isolation, the lack of support, the pain of betrayal, or the despair of battery and rape in women's lives. Women continue to live in communities where intimate, intragroup abuse and violence are not recognized and it's necessary to describe their painful realities. If we are in denial of the ways in which we have been victimized, then personal change and social transformation are impossible. Speaking out about the harm done and labeling the experiences as battering, rape, incestuous assault, and/or attempted murder are essential components of healing, recovery, self-determination and social change (Howard 2007). However, identifying women who've experienced abuse as only or predominantly victims and survivors of abuse, violence, battering, and rape eventually reinforces our status as victims by reducing us to what someone else did to us. When we only describe the individual damage to each other and when we solely seek validation and support for the individual pain endured, it can lead to depression and despair (MacKinnon 2003). MacKinnon (1999) provided evidence that sexual harassment not only causes lower productivity but also higher turnover and poor morale. Further, the costs are astronomical. Oppenheimer and Pratt (2002) reported that, excluding costs of litigation, Fortune 500 companies surveyed for Working Woman estimated their sexual harassment costs at almost $7 million per company per year. That cost included replacing harassed employees, sickleave payments, and reduced productivity. Diversity training and other preventive activities would cost only a fraction of what it takes to remedy the abuse. Sexual harassment is an outgrowth of individual and institutional sexist behaviors. Often it takes a considerable amount of courage for women to report harassment. The main characteristics of sexually harassed people are embarrassed, intimidated, and demeaned (MacKinnon, 2003). They are real victims of stressful situations and frequently suffer from headaches, stomach pains, and inability to concentrate on job-related activities. Extreme stress leads to increased absenteeism, loss of efficiency, and reduced productivity. Employment turnover also increases because many harassed workers quit their jobs and rehiring and retraining costs go up (Howard 2007). Types of Sexual Harassment Succinctly, there are two types of sexual harassment: quid pro quo and hostile environment. Quid pro quo (a Latin phrase meaning something for something) harassment occurs when a manager or supervisor makes unwelcome sexual advances (MacKinnon, 2003). For example, a supervisor tells a subordinate, "Go to bed with me if you want to keep your job" (MacKinnon 2003, p. 78). Submission to the ultimatum is an expressed condition for receiving job benefits, while refusal to submit will result in the loss of the job. Quid pro quo harassment can be implicit, too. For example, a supervisor tells a subordinate, "We can resolve your salary request more quickly at dinner. Would you like to have dinner with me tonight" (MacKinnon 2003, p. 76). A hostile environment is relentless and continuing unwelcome sexual conduct in the workplace that interferes with an employee's job performance, or conduct that creates an intimidating, hostile, abusive, or offensive job environment. On the one hand, sexual flirtation, sexually explicit vulgar language, or sexual innuendos fall within the category of unwelcome sexual advances. On the other hand, extreme rudeness directed exclusively at one sex, such as women, is an example of a hostile environment. Harassment in the workplace violates Title VII when a member of a protected group is treated differently from other people. There is no specific provision in Title VII prohibiting harassment as such, but the courts have made such an interpretation. Racial harassment would be found in a situation where black employees were subjected to racial slurs, pranks, or other bigoted acts by their co-workers or supervisors (MacKinnon 2003, p. 78). The main advantage of current laws is that the law does not deal with the issue of intent; rather, it is enough to prove the sexually oriented activity occurred. Even when there are no witnesses, most harassers admit the act, claim there was no intent to harass the other person, and/or claim ignorance of the law. Seldom do these cases end up "judgment calls" after a thorough investigation. It is true that women can and do harass men (MacKinnon 2003, p. 78). Meritor Savings Bank, FSB v. Vinson (1986) Case The example of sexual harassment is Meritor Savings Bank, FSB v. Vinson (1986) case. The court found discriminatory the employer's requirement that the receptionist wear provocative clothes but did not require men to do so. Meritor was the first case on sexual harassment to come before the Supreme Court. Ms. Vinson alleged that Taylor, a vice president in the bank, had sexual relations with her about forty to fifty times in the previous four years, during and after business hours. The district court dismissed the suit as the manifestation of a broken love affair. The appellate court reversed the decision on the grounds that the action was a violation of Title VII (Oppenheimer and Pratt, 2002). Special Programs In order to overcome sexual harassment, employers introduce special programs for both women and men employees. Most of the projects addressing violence against women assume an exclusively gender-based analysis of violence against women. Many feminists, especially those whose perspectives are tied to white, middle-class and/or heterosexist values and orientation, place gender inequality and misogyny (usually defined as men's hatred of women, rather than both men and women's hatred of women) at the center of the analysis of violence against women. Increasingly, mainstream feminist organizations are sometimes indistinguishable from social service agencies and are often closely aligned with the state in monitoring and controlling violence against women. This has led to a movement more focused on individuals and social control mechanisms rather than on broad-based social and institutional transformation. White and middle-class activists who are often in leadership positions mostly assume that women's common experience of men's sexualized violence has the potential to bring us together to demand fundamental changes in the male-dominant U.S. culture and society. For many activists, the prevalence of violence against women is testament to its centrality in women's oppression, the horror of it is testament to its urgency and significance in women's lives, and the acceptance of and/or apathy toward violence by most social institutions is testament to its foundation in a patriarchal, male-dominant, misogynistic society (Oppenheimer and Pratt, 2002). Patoi (1998) underline that when faced with the contradictory evidence in women's stories and the multiple perspectives women inevitably articulate, feminist leaders of the most prominent organizations tend to ignore or deny the complexities involved, or to minimize their significance. For instance, despite the knowledge of the multiple roots of violence, as well as the centrality of racism and classism to how social institutions respond to violence, many feminists continue to articulate an analysis of sexism and misogyny as the primary explanatory framework. Similarly, many feminists resist the evidence of women's discrimination and violence by other women and hold tight to exclusivist theories of male domination (Oppenheimer and Pratt, 2002). These systems of interlocking oppression and privilege account for the ways in which women and men are differentially constructed and treated, as well as the ways that women resist and struggle. Misogyny, racism, classism, heterosexism, and antisemitism, among others, construct the differential contexts of women's lives. The differentiations account for inconsistent and unfair responses to multiple forms of violence against women. The ideological framework of categorical and hierarchical distinctions that shapes social institutions in the United States makes some women's lives (i.e., poor women, women of color, lesbians, disabled women, women in prostitution) seem "less important" than the lives of those defined as "valuable, " "innocent, " and "pure" women-that is, typically white middle-class and upper-class heterosexual women. Violence against white middle-class heterosexual women often gains significance only when the perpetrators are nonwhite or working-class or in some way perceived as "strangers" or "outsiders" to the women and their so-called identity "group" (MacKinnon, 2003). Similarly, the male perpetrators of violence against women are socially differentiated. Men of color and poor men are more likely to be criminalized for violence whether guilty or not. They are assumed to be violent, whereas white middle-class men are less likely to be held accountable for violence and less likely to be criminalized. These differentiations must be addressed in feminist analysis and activism, otherwise such differentiations, which are grossly unfair and unequal, will simply be perpetuated, and the movement to end violence will ultimately be ineffective and unjust (Patoi, 1998). Employers must publicize the positive benefits that accrue when we resist, challenge, and change attitudes, behaviors, and institutions which inhibit and sometimes destroy us. To do this, we must communicate a faith that communities and institutions do have the capacity to stop violence and that we will benefit positively from doing so. All efforts will be able to sustain themselves in a politically progressive way when we emphasize the ways in which our work encourages women to gain better control over lives and relationships, and to improve modern communities (MacKinnon, 2003). One way to do this is to draw upon the strengths of women who have experienced, survived, resisted, and challenged violence. All employers in different ways and at different times, actively seek to change lives. Critics iunderline that women can and have changed, escaped, fought back, resisted, critically analyzed, created change, and thrived in their lives (MacKinnon, 2003). As activists and educators, state authorities need to publicize success stories of women who resist and challenge injustices, including abuse and violence, who work to create and nurture just relationships and institutions, and who embrace a hopeful vision of a socially just society. Imagine what it might be like to go to a speak out on violence, and to hear women tell the stories of violence in conjunction with their stories of resistance-stories of women who fight all forms of oppression; women who left batterers, who stood up to harassers or bullies, women who defended themselves against rapists; women who refuse to accept a racist and homophobic system; women who support women who kill in self-defense; women who support other women; women who are healing from sexual abuse; women who are fighting the sexist and racist criminal justice system, women who organize community efforts against harassers and rapists, women who are taking back control over their lives, women who are challenging and changing institutionalized racism and homophobia in the women's movement, and women who are working together to end violence against women and the social inequalities that support it. When people think about writing our testimonies, creating placards for demonstrations, and designing pamphlets, why not celebrate women's resistance to violence, rather than solely the violence that women face. Conclusion In sum, sexual harassment is a social problem affected modern workplace. Employees seeking relief from discrimination or harassment should not be judged as good or bad persons. Whatever their situation, supervisors should suspend value judgment. Useful help is not likely to come from administrators with negative beliefs about an employee's ethnicity. For example, a white racist should not counsel a minority worker complaining about job discrimination. By so doing, they are relieved of the tiresome burden of individualizing their behavior. It is of utmost importance that individuals involved in diversity activities always keep in mind the injunction to avoid labeling, stereotyping, generalizing, categorizing, and rationalizing unique human beings who defy the reduction and simplification provided by their records and reputations. References Dobrich, W., Dranoff, S., Maatman, G. (2002). The Manager's Guide to Preventing a Hostile Work Environment. McGraw-Hill. Howard, L. (2007). The Sexual Harassment Handbook . Career Press; 1 edition MacKinnon, C. Sexual Harassment of Working Women: A Case of Sex Discrimination (Yale Fastback Series. Yale University Press, 1999. MacKinnon, C.A. (2003). Directions in Sexual Harassment Law. Yale University Press. Oppenheimer, A., Pratt, C. (2002). Investigating Workplace Harassment: How to Be Fair, Thorough, and Legal. Society For Human Resource Management. Patoi, D. (1998). Heterophobia: Sexual Harassment and the Future of Feminism (American Intellectual Culture). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.. Vivian, Jesse C., Pharm., S. (1998). A Case of Sexual Harassment. Department of Pharmacy Practice and Allied Health Professions, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI. Retrieved from http://www.uspharmacist.com/oldformat.aspurl=newlook/files/Phar/ACF55A.cfm&pub_id=8&article_id=198 Read More