Blog 25

With sexual harassment laws, came positive change and negative change in the workplace. Women are able to say “no” without the fear of repercussions. The overt sexual harassment has decreased, but “underground harassment,” has developed. Underground harassment is “leers, off-color jokes, and pornographic e-mails.” There is also “story making” where people join into the rumor mill if a man partner is working too often with a female associate, there is an assumption that they must be sleeping together. This has caused men and women to retreat into same-sex groups and networks to avoid the rumors. English says that, “Many people view sexualized behavior aimed toward workplace success pragmatically, a “weapon in the arsenal” that a woman can deploy to gain an edge” (43). A male lawyer says that he does not think there is anything wrong with women using the sexuality in the workplace, as long as it is used properly. English also says that the negative effect of using sexuality in the workplace is that “it de-legitimizes a woman by reawakening the stereotype that a woman’s mere presence is overwhelmingly sexual rather than professional” (44).