Sexual Harassment A Cry for Help or a Money Making Scheme

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"Sexual harassment is not about sex, it is about
power." -Gretchen Morgenson

An unwanted sexual advance, an offensive touch,
and suggestive comments illustrate examples of sexual
harassment. Sexual harassment is defined by Stephanie
Riger as, "unwanted sexually oriented behavior in a work
context." However, sexual harassment does not only
appear in an occupational environment, and this form of
harassment is not limited to a specific race, a specific
gender, or any certain lifestyle. Today, throughout the
United States, men and women are filing sexual
harassment lawsuits as if sexual harassment were no
great matter. A line needs to be drawn to distinguish
what is and is not sexual harassment, but since sexual
harassment is so subjective, a simple line becomes
harder to draw. Some people want punishment for hostile
environment harassment, but what constitutes a hostile
environment? According to Morgenson a hostile
environment includes "hazing, joking, and sexually
suggestive talk between men and women who work alongside
them." Lately, it seems that Americans are making sexual
harassment an excuse. People are crying sexual
harassment like the little boy who cried wolf.
Sexual harassment has become such an issue due
to the large number of cases presented. When Anita
Hill, law professor at the University of Oklahoma,
brought allegations of sexual
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harassment against Supreme Court Justice Clarence
Thomas, the whole world started listening. This case
was "the most celebrated sexual harassment case of our
time," according to Martha Chamallas, and "Hill's
revelations prompted women to tell about their own
encounters with sexually harassing behavior-both in
private and in public." This case gave women a reason
to report sexual harassment, and sexual harassment would
no longer be overlooked. Women would no longer have to
"flatter" their bosses, as Erica Jong had to.
Consequently, since Anita Hill came out and
voiced her opinion, it seems that the issue of sexual
harassment has become a security blanket for men and
women, and filing lawsuits of sexual harassment have
created a new money making scheme. In 1996 my place of
employment received two allegations of sexual
harassment. In the case I testified in court that I
never saw any event of sexual harassment that the lady
in question described. The jury threw out her sexual
allegations against our employer, and she was sentenced
for embezzlement. In this case, sexual harassment was
her security blanket against her employer. When she
heard that she was being charged with embezzlement, she
decided that she might be able to plea bargain if she
proved that sexual harassment took place.
When allegations of sexual harassment hit home,
it has become clear to me that something needs to be
done. Employers need to safeguard themselves by
understanding the definition of sexual harassment.
Employers need to know their employees and be
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aware of their employees' values. Knowing that sexual
harassment is an issue of power and not sex, women need
to prove to men that they are not submissive objects.
Jong states "just as men can use sexuality for power,
women can use anti-sexuality for political power," and I
agree with her. The issue that women should be lobbying
for is equality. If women cannot stand up to their
bosses and show them that they too are powerful, then
women will never achieve equality.
Similar to my story, in the Supreme Court case
of Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, Sidney Taylor was
accused of sexual harassment by a former employee,
Michelle Vinson. Michelle testified that in order to
advance in her occupation she had to have sex with her
supervisor. Undoubtedly, she did have sexual relations
with her supervisor, but she never refused his advances,
according to her affidavit. In Taylor's testimony, he
told the court that he never made advances or even had
sexual relations with her. Furthermore, Taylor
testified that Vinson's accusations were the result of
an earlier dispute over business. The court found that
even if a sexual relationship had taken place, that
Michelle acted willingly, and that this relationship had
nothing to do with her employment to the bank. This is
another example of how the issue of sexual harassment
has become grounds for a lawsuit and a money making
scheme.
Not only are women making money out of sexual
harassment cases, but "peddlers of sex harassment advice
have, of course, their own money making agenda,"
according to Morgenson. "There
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are a lot of bad consultants taking advantage of the
fact that sexual harassment is in vogue." In fact, the
government has granted aid to certain agencies whose job
is to try and combat sexual harassment. The irony is
that in Morgenson's view, sexual harassment is
decreasing, while the number of sexual harassment
consultants has increased. Jennifer Coplon, a
consultant, believes that the number of consultants has
increased because sexual harassment is overall
employment issues, the biggest concern among
cooperations. If women would not use sexual harassment
as a cry for help, then maybe cooperations would not
have to pay consultants to educate businesses.
Prevention is the hardest phase of sexual
harassment because it is almost impossible to understand
what one considers harassment. Morgenson described it
best when she pointed out that "Behavior that one woman
may consider harassment could be seen by another as a
non-threatening gag." Riger suggests that policy makers
and employers need to "think like a woman" in order to
define sexual harassment. By understanding what might
be offensive and suggestive to a woman, employers can
safeguard themselves against law suits. Since feminists
have forced the court to believe that sexual harassment
is a form of sexual discrimination, then equal
opportunities for employment need to be implemented.
Also, prevention can be accomplished by installing
organizational mechanisms, such as hierarchies. If more
women were in higher levels of authority, then cries of
sexual harassment will be reduced. The key to
prevention is
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education, and as long as the employer knows his
employees, then the chance of sexual harassment is
diminished.
Even though there are almost too many cases of
sexual harassment reported, one cannot afford to
overlook one case as a false allegation. At the
University of Oklahoma, an international student who
made accusations of sexual harassment was recently
expelled from school. Since the University failed to
act upon her allegations, she decided to take the matter
into her own hands, which ended her education at the
University of Oklahoma. It will never be known whether
or not that her allegations were true.
Sexual harassment is an issue that cannot be
overlooked. With proper knowledge and education,
prevention is necessary. Maybe, punishment for wrong
allegations should be drafted into legislation. I agree
with Erica Jong when she suggested that "sexual hot-
button issues like harassment serve to distract us from
focusing, for instance, on the fact that women continue
to be underpaid." Until something is done to prevent
sexual harassment, women and men will use sexual
harassment as their security blankets and money making
schemes. I want to emphasize to women that sexual
harassment is not a money making game, and by crying
sexual harassment out loud, women lose their power. As
Jong demonstrates, "If we take our power and use it as
badly as men have used theirs throughout the centuries,
we will not have brought about the world of equality we
seek."