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Sexual harassment of men and women
Harassment and sexual harassment
Sexual harassment in the work environment
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Recommended: Sexual harassment of men and women
Sexual harassment is still not recognized today by many individuals as an actual offense. Sexual harassment was talked about and was recognized in 1976 but the law making it illegal was not passed until 10 years later in 1986. The law states that “it is unlawful to harass a person because of their sex. Harassment can include sexual harassment or unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature.” The law doesn’t include simple teasing, small comments or incidents that aren’t serious. But it becomes illegal when it happens more than once and the severity of the comments makes the work environment uncomfortable. The problem today is knowing what is actually considered sexual harassment as everyone takes it differently and when comments or jokes are being taken too far.
Chapter 36 discusses a study that focused on waitressing as many restaurants have an obviously sexualized workplace. The book says “sexual attractiveness and flirtation are often institutionalized parts of a waitpersons job description.” When applying for jobs many workplaces hire attractive looking women, as they believe it will attract more people to their business. I find this to be unfair as men do not have this standard. When men apply for a job they look directly at the individual’s skills, not what they look like. It used to be said that in addition to popularity and access to their choice of a mate, attractive people tend to receive higher evaluations and salaries than their peers so people would then assume that it would always be an advantage to be an attractive male or female in the workplace. But this is not true in all cases. Newer research shows that being an attractive man was an advan...
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... if you are married they will still say inappropriate comments to you, even if they know who your married to, some guys just don’t care.
In the end sexual harassment is not okay, especially in the workplace. Women shouldn’t have to feel like they are just an object at work. Women’s confidence can be lowered by receiving sexual harassing comments from men. Men should be respectful during work hours, even joking around about sex during work doesn’t seem appropriate if you’re working around other people who could hear you.
Works Cited
Giuffre, Patti A., and Christine L. Williams. "Boundary Lines." Gender Through The Prism Of Difference. 4th ed. New York: Oxford UP, 2011. 403-17. Print.
Gomez, Evangeline. "Should Businesses Worry About Appearance-Based Discrimination in the Workplace?" Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 31 Jan. 2012. Web. 02 Dec. 2013.
In Chapter 11 of William Shaw’s The Organization and the People in It goes over issue of sexual harassment in the workplace and its effects. Sexual harassment is defined as the “unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature”, most reports of sexual harassment are from women accusing men however men accusing women is becoming more prevalent in todays society (Shaw, p.444). Sexual harassment is a moral issues because a person becomes a victim by means of verbal comments, gestures, or physical contact of a sexual nature and not being able to refuse them without fear that something worse will happen.
In today’s job market, there are many reasons an individual could be turned down for employment. According to Deborah Rhodes, author of “Why looks are the last bastion of discrimination”, appearance should not be one of them. Rhodes is a law professor at Stanford and holder of numerous titles for her outstanding work in legal matters. She is also the author and co-author of over 250 articles (Directory). In this article, she addresses an issue with profound impact on today’s society. She proposes that appearance discrimination should be included in anti-discrimination laws in addition to what is already accepted and legalized in today’s workplace. While it is a seemingly “silly” concern, it is actually quite valid. There has been many a concern over discrimination. That is, discrimination based on race, color, gender, and others of a similar nature in the work environment.
Many companies are using new techniques to attract modern day society. One of these techniques is revising their hiring practices. Instead of hiring based on intelligence, or skill sets, they desire employees with “the look”. Companies want people that represent their product or brand. In the article, “Going for the Look, But Risking Discrimination” by Steven Greenhouse, the store Abercrombie and Fitch hire people with a “classic American” look. However, there are many problems that can arise with this. Marshall Cohen, a senior industry analyst, claims that companies are forced to do what is necessary. I disagree with this statement. Companies that hire based on looks are risking more they assume.
“Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conducts of a sexual nature constitute (are) sexual harassment when: (1) submission to (agree to) . . . or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment decisions affecting such individuals, or (2) such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile (threatening), or offensive working environment” (ENotes.com...
Gender Roles and Stereotypes Explored in Judy Mann's The The Difference: Growing Up Female in America and Bernard Lefkowitz's Our Guys
Roberts, Barry S. and Richard A. Mann. ?Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: A Primer.? n.pag. On-line. Internet. 5 Dec 2000. Available WWW:
If employers began to discriminate on the basis of looks, society could start categorizing fat, unattractive, or unusual looking people as failures and avoid encouraging these people to reach for their goals. Self esteem would be at an all time low.
What comes to mind when you think of sexual harassment? Most people picture an individual grabbing another individual unwillingly in attempt of committing nonconsensual sex. However, sexual harassment can be something as insignificant as being called something negative. It is anything that makes a person feel uncomfortable about his/her sexuality. According to the law, sexual harassment is anything from unwelcome sexual advances and requests for sexual favors to verbal statements of a sexual nature. It violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Sexual Harassment Policy, which is currently in place in all schools and work places, is aimed at providing an educational and work environment free of harassment. This includes sexual harassment and every form of intimidation or exploitation.
Sexual harassment is unwelcome behavior of a sexual nature that makes someone feel uncomfortable or unwelcome by focusing attention on their gender (http://www.de.psu.edu/harassment/whatif/). There are many different forms of sexual harassment including sexual comments, jokes, gestures, looks, pictures, photos, illustrations, messages, and rumors. Other forms such as calling gay or lesbian, spy on people dressing, flash or moon, touch or grab sexually, pull at clothes, corner in sexual way, or force to do something sexual are also forms of sexual harassment(Parrot 2).
Employment discrimination legislation has evolved to include race, disabilities, sexual harassment of either gender, and age. In lieu of this evolution and an increasing trend toward equality for all individuals in the workplace, the time has come for the protective reach of employment discrimination law to cover ugliness. While the proposal may cause titters at first, evidence exists that discrimination based on looks (or physical appearance) occurs in the workplace. An investigation was conducted by ABC’s 20/20 news program in 1994 that sent two men and two women into the workplace to secure the same jobs (Sessions 1). The individuals were coached to act in a similar manner during the interviews and took with them resumes with matching education and experience. The only difference was that one of the men and one of the women was superior in physical attraction to their counterpart. The results demonstrate whether intentional or not, looks discrimination does play a role in the employment process “In five cases out of five, the more attractive woman got the job; in three chances out of three, the more attractive man was hired” (Sessions 1).
Anderson, W. L., & Bouravnev, A. (2011). Sexual Harassment: the Good, the Bad, and the
Sexual harassment is so ordinary in the workforce that frequently we fail to even recognize harassing behavior as immoral. This is because so many of us--women and men alike--have become desensitized to offensive behaviors. Sexual harassment in any form is unacceptable behavior and should not be tolerated by anyone. It undermines our ability to study, to work, and to feel like effective, empowered people in the world.
...tention, sexual advances, and requests for sexual favors and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature.’ In general, sexual harassment refers to conduct that can be reasonably considered unwelcome or personally offensive” (“Sexual Harassment,” WAGE). Legality comes into play when harassment is so frequent that it creates a hostile work environment or when it results in the victim being punished. The harasser can be anyone in the workplace and can even include offensive comments about women in general (“Sexual Harassment,” U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission). In legal terms, sexual harassment can generally be classified as either quid pro quo or hostile work environment (“Sexual Harassment,” WAGE). While various people try to doubt that sexual harassment is an issue, it remains a pressing issue harming women in today’s society and workforce.
KANE-URRABAZO, C. (2007). Sexual harassment in the workplace: it is your problem. Journal Of Nursing Management, 15(6), 608-613. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2834.2007.00725.x
Sexual harassment can happen in the form of belittling remarks regarding specific gender.... ... middle of paper ... ... To conclude, sexual harassment is a tremendously huge issue that should be taken seriously.