Salon.com > Sexual Harassment

The future of sexual harassment

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 12:45:00 +0000

These days, it’s impossible to discuss sex in the office without immediately thinking of sexual harassment. The term shows up everywhere, from the campaign trail to, most likely, your nearest office cubicle. But the concept of inappropriate sexual behavior has evolved dramatically since the 1860s, when women first took jobs as clerks in the U.S. Treasury office. Over the past century and a half, people of both sexes have gradually rethought what is and isn’t appropriate sexual behavior in professional environments -- a transformation that has paralleled dramatic reconfigurations in our conceptions of gender, equality and work itself.

In her new book, “Sex and the Office: A History of Gender, Power, and Desire,” Julie Berebitsky, professor of history and director of the Women’s Studies Program at Sewanee University and author, previously, of “Like Our Very Own: Adoption and the Changing Culture of Motherhood,” explores a vast array of sources, including advertisements, advice guides, archival sources and actual experiences of male and female office workers, to better understand which of our attitudes have changed, and which have stubbornly remained the same. It's a dramatic reminder of the fact that men have claimed to be hardwired for sex -- and women have been accused of being temptresses seeking special favors -- long before Herman Cain and Clarence Thomas.

5. Katie Roiphe

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:30:00 +0000

Katie Roiphe discovered long ago that the secret to perpetual employment in the world of ideas is to be a vocal dissenter from the perceived stogy liberalism of your non-white male demographic group. Thus, the success of the Black Republican Pundit and the anti-feminist woman author. No editor ever got fired for printing a "provocative" piece in which a woman -- a woman! -- trashes feminists.

Twenty years ago, Roiphe got glowing reviews for writing a "courageous" book blaming women for getting raped and attacking feminists for being too zealous in attempting to stop women from getting raped. And arguing that most rape is made up. And saying that women should just understand that men are going to have sex with them against their will if they're foolish enough to imbibe alcohol. And dismissing statistics about the extent of sexual violence with the academically rigorous method of thinking she'd surely have heard about it if a bunch of her friends had been raped. It was dumb, but it was the '90s, and that kinda shit sold. (Camille Paglia loved it!)

Gloria Cain stands by her man

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 15:15:00 +0000

Yesterday, on the same day that Gloria Cain stood by her man on Fox News against allegations of sexual harassment and assault, GQ published an interview with her husband in which he used the word "manly" six times, to refer to pizza with meat on it. These two interviews were intimately connected.

Speaking to Greta Van Susteren, the kindly Mrs. Cain said she didn't recognize the man described by his accusers, that her husband "totally respects women." That is to say, "If you understand what old school is, of that generation where men still wanted to open the doors for women, and if we're walking along the street, he wants me to walk on the outside, next to the curb. It's not just me, it's any woman he's walking with because old-school people think they're supposed to be women's protectors."

Katie Roiphe still doesn’t understand sexual harassment

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 01:00:00 +0000

Katie Roiphe may disdain blogs, but she was born to troll them. Exactly 20 years after erupting into the public consciousness with a piece that argued that hysterical feminists were unwisely legislating the brawny, intemperate sexual impulses of men and casting women as victims (with anti-rape activism, on campus), she's back. In the same space, the Op-Ed page of the New York Times, Roiphe argued Sunday that, yes, hysterical feminists are unwisely trying to legislate the brawny, intemperate sexual impulses of men and casting women as victims (with sexual harassment laws, in the workplace).

"The Morning After" -- the book that first rape-hysteria piece became -- has given way to "Groundhog Day."

Did Cain’s accuser act ethically?

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 20:40:00 +0000

The sexual harassment and assault accusations against Herman Cain raise an issue often in the news these days: the propriety of confidential agreements. From the facts the public knows, the National Restaurant Association, when it was run by Cain in the 1990s, entered into confidentiality agreements with several female employees who claimed he groped them and were paid to keep quiet about it. Confidentiality agreements have also figured in the controversy over the Catholic Church's long-standing practices of requiring confidentiality agreements when paying lay complainants for their claims against predatory priests.

Are confidentiality agreements a good thing? They certainly encourage settlement. Most civil litigation, over 95 percent by most reliable estimates, concludes in a settlement. The risks, stress and costs of litigation encourage settling cases. The courts also encourage settlements as measures for judicial economy. And most settlements – in and out of courts – end with confidentiality clauses, which the parties sign, agreeing to keep the charges and settlements confidential. The motive for the defendant is to pay a price to keep a contested charge private, whether or not it is true. Cynics call that practice extortion; realists call it the price of doing business.

The boyfriend defense

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 21:30:00 +0000

Sharon Bialek, the woman who went public to accuse Herman Cain of sexual harassment and assault, peppered her prepared statement with a dozen strategic references to her former boyfriend to drive home the point that the Republican presidential candidate's advances had been unwanted. In a seven-minute statement, Bialek mentioned her boyfriend every 40 seconds.

The boyfriend was the reason she called up Cain to use him as a possible contact for a job. It was he who suggested she meet Cain, in person, thereby explaining why she would be alone having drinks and dinner with a strange man. This boyfriend (a doctor!) was the plausible explanation for her room upgrade at the Capitol Hilton. He was the reason she rebuffed Cain's alleged sexual overtures.

Bialek and her legal team wanted no confusion about that fact that she was in a serious relationship and not looking for a date with Cain, a married man who has denied the allegations against him. But does a woman need a husband or boyfriend to be taken seriously when bringing allegations of sexual misconduct? Would Bialak’s account of meeting Cain draw more doubt or scrutiny had she not had a knight in shining armor waiting for her at home?

Herman Cain’s “blame the liberal media” tactic fails, spectacularly

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:42:00 +0000

Mark Block, Herman Cain's chief of staff and a complete idiot, went on Hannity last night to finally put this "multiple credible accusations of sexual harassment" issue to bed, so to speak. He came prepared with a stunning revelation:

BLOCK: Karen Kraushaar had come out as one of the women. And we’ve come to find out her son works at Politico, the organization that originally put the story out.

HANNITY: Have you confirmed that? I've been hearing that all day, rumors about that. You've confirmed that.

BLOCK: We've confirmed it that he does indeed work at Politico, and that's his mother, yes.

See? It's all a liberal media conspiracy, because the son of one of the five women to have accused Herman Cain of inappropriate behavior works in some sort of capacity at the news organization that originally ran the story reporting that Cain had been accused of sexual harassment (a story that was proven completely true shortly following its publication, meaning that even if it had been a plot, it was still a plot based on complete factual accuracy).

Sharon Bialek, meet the right-wing hit machine

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:40:00 +0000

One thing was clear from Sharon Bialek's media tour of the past 24 hours: She knew what she was getting herself into.

Bialek, the public face of sexual harassment charges against GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain, told CNN's Piers Morgan last night that: "There's going to be a lot of backlash and I'm going to have to suffer through that and I'm sure I'm going to be portrayed as different things. I'm willing to handle it. I'm a tough girl."

On NBC's "Today," she recalled her boyfriend telling her that if she said publicly that Cain made unwelcome advances, "It's gonna be one of those he-said she-said things." But Bialek insisted that the focus belonged on Cain, not her. "It's not about me. I'm not the one running for president." She repeated on every show that she wasn't getting paid and neither was attorney Gloria Allred.