Sex and the Office: A History of Gender, Power and Desire

Citation

Victoria Kate Pagan (2014), "Sex and the Office: A History of Gender, Power and Desire", Gender in Management, Vol. 29 No. 1, pp. 65-69. https://doi.org/10.1108/GM-03-2013-0034

Julie Berebitsky is Professor of History and Director of the Women ' s Studies Programme at Sewanee: The University of the South, Tennessee. She has written in detail regarding adoption and motherhood (Berebitsky, 1994, 2000, 2002) as well as the position of women in the workplace (Berebitsky, 2006, 2011). Her latest book, Sex and the Office, further develops her work on the workplace and offers a historical analysis of experiences and representations of sexuality and sexual behaviours in American workplaces. Using illustrations starting in the late nineteenth century, first-hand accounts and other primary historical data, the book is presented almost as a set of interconnected essays. These essays serve to demonstrate differences and, at times, depressing similarities in the mismanagement of sexuality and sexual behaviours in a range of workplaces across time, as well as misplaced and misjudged enactments thereof. Sex and the Office is framed in the particular context of sexual harassment, albeit that Berebitsky aims:

[…] to connect the stories of actual women and men in a variety of sexual relations in the office to the dominant cultural narratives of their time, paying close attention to how shifting ideologies colored their experiences (p. 20).

It offers a thought-provoking and insightful journey through myriad situations from the personal perspective of the participants themselves.

The book is ordered chronologically as the author explores changing patterns of work since the late 1900s. It is structured beginning with a contextual introduction that situates the piece as a historicization of our understanding of sexual harassment, connecting workplace attitudes and behaviours with social zeitgeist. Starting with “dangers, desires, and self-determination” (p. 21), the author explores the positioning of women in the workplace from the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries. This chapter illustrates women in the office as antithetical, and as danger to, wives and marriages. A second discourse of the time denoted women as victims of rapacious men, from whom they needed to be protected. The social context of this time is highlighted as imbued with fear about the changing role of women, i.e. their rejection of expected and normative gender roles of the time, linked to class, with women as responsible for “patrolling their bodies ' borders” (p. 39). Additional typologies of women are portrayed in the selected stories, for example, as vamps (p. 34), victims (p. 40), kittenish (p. 46); and always subject to judgment despite the actions of men.

Even in this earliest stage of the chronology, a hint of revolution can be found in the subheading “Standing up to men: toward a perfect future” (p. 48), which offers an insightful analysis of the work of the turn-of-the-century reformist Ella Wheeler Wilcox. The chapter concludes with further stories that demonstrate the different responses of women to the advances of their male colleagues in the office; some delivered aggressively, some gently even when received resentfully, and some where a consensual relationship developed. The author shows, however, that whilst the polarised moral arguments about the position of women in the workplace were becoming less audible, the experiences of women in the workplace were no more visible. Their objectification, if anything, was more implicit and accepted in workplace culture and social thinking of the time. Indeed, Chapter 2 takes the reader up to Second World War; noting that during the early twentieth century “sex, in countless new ways, became a part of men ' s business as usual” (p. 61). The chapter shows how men ' s work roles were also changing. For example, white-collar work for men was considered inferior to productive labour, creating gendered struggles for male identity. It also discusses the fact that during the 1800s men were socially encouraged to control (repress) their sexual behaviours in order to appear as “men of character” (p. 63). However:

[…] once women entered men ' s workspace, the possibility emerged that manly sexual expression would no longer need to be confined to the illicit culture of brothels or other sexualized places, but could find a more acceptable outlet in the public world of work (p. 64).

Examples of sexual humour are described as are detailed accounts of the exploits of selected businessmen, with many getting away with their behaviours, as part of a reaction to the portrayal of white-collar workers as emasculated, weak and/or exploited by their managers. In this respect, this also offers a partial explanation as to men ' s behaviour, some of whom were also negotiating their position in response to changing roles and identities.

Chapter 3 returns to the perspective of working women, in the context of “new freedoms and new risks in the sexually and psychologically modern office” (p. 95). Popular culture in the 1920s and 1930s, in the form of magazines and books, contained advice and guidance for working women and there were changes in the organization of working practices which created more roles and greater hierarchy. The influence of psychology provoked a greater openness about revealing the place of sexuality within office environments, despite a management wish to ignore or deny its presence. This chapter analyses the empirical work in psychology being undertaken at the time, revealing ideas about sexual experience and attitudes at the time. It shows a move towards more sexual freedom for women. However, some patterns remained unchanged, for instance, according to the advice offered to women with regard to unwanted advances, it remained their role to control the situations. As Berebitsky writes of such advisors, “Although they did not challenge male prerogatives and accepted without question the powerlessness of women ' s lowly place, they did offer protective strategies – avoid, ignore, run” (p. 103). Her writing empathises with the social context of the time, whilst not excusing it. Chapter 4 continues to explore the portrayal of workplace cultures and behaviours in popular material, specifically fiction writing and film production. Berebitsky draws connections with visual and popular culture scholarship which denotes the influence of its content on viewers ' behaviour. Depictions of women in the workplace include “Gold Diggers” and overall this chapter begins to demonstrate increasing release from expected gendered behaviour that characterised the early twentieth century (p. 125). Although the movies also included depictions of the exploitation of women, frequently they returned to more “acceptable” justifications for behaviours; “women in these films lacked institutional power, but men ' s vulnerability to a pretty face gave women a way to even the odds” (p. 140).

Chapter 5 covers the 1940s-1960s but points out “the issues were mostly the same as they had always been” (p. 142), which is a sad indictment of the minimal and slow change in social attitudes. Indeed, the chapter continues with further stories of welcomed and unwelcomed sexual behaviours in the workplace, and its varied consequences. Second World War brought discourses of morale boosting and/or threats to the war effort as a result of sexualized workplace behaviour (e.g. women as a distraction). However, the same tales of male and female victims vs perpetrators of sexual behaviour circulated repeatedly. What was newly brought to the fore in this era, as identified by the author, was increased “interest” in homosexual behaviour and the need to identify and remove homosexual employees from the civil service in particular, “because these ‘perverts’ threatened the nation ' s morals and national security” (p. 157). This was in line with a desire to return to the old (good) ways of the past promoted as a result of the war. Concurrently, however, the author identifies the impact of the publication of the work on male sexuality by Alfred Kinsey in 1948 which revealed evidently widespread “immorality” in the behaviours of men. This illustrates further contradictions regarding public and private expressions of sexuality. The development of psychiatry as a discipline also seems to have enabled the blaming of women for such behaviours again through their seduction (for example, by secretaries) or through their rejection (for example, by wives). As demonstrated by Chapter 6, however, the 1960s marked something of a turning point in the volume of voices calling for different conceptualizations of sexual interactions between men and women in the workplace. The chapter offers a review and critique of the work by Helen Gurley Brown, who published Sex and the Single Girl in 1962 and began to edit Cosmopolitan magazine in 1965, in the context of other publications of the time. Brown ' s book was largely a set of advice to women who worked. However, this chapter also accounts for feminist and activist reactions to these publications and by 1975, the term “sexual harassment” had been devised “to describe the unwelcome or coercive sexual behaviours employed women encountered” (p. 205). In this respect, there was now an (albeit much simplified) named differentiation between “good” sex and “bad” sex in the office.

It becomes clear from the title of Chapter 7, “Desire or discrimination? Old narratives meet a new interpretation” that even by the 1970s, little had fundamentally changed in the advice offered to working women:

In one story, what began as a near-rape by a client in a hotel room was transformed into a “charming anecdote” when the fast-thinking [author] screamed, “Please […] I ' m a nice Jewish girl!” (p. 207).

However, as this chapter demonstrates, feminism and the women ' s movement, including organized responses, were gaining ground and a louder voice, albeit meeting with some vehement resistance and misappropriation of message, i.e. “I don ' t believe in women ' s lib. I like men to open doors for me” (p. 218). A key shift in understanding is delineated here – “activists would need to convince Americans that sexual harassment was not about sex and desire” (p. 219). This chapter neatly analyses the complexity of sexual harassment and its systemic presence with consequences for the labour market as a whole. Drawing on relations of power and misuse of authority, the chapter unravels the previously simplified binaries illustrated by the stories of the workplace. In line with the book ' s chronological approach, a distinction is made between the gradual change in the description of sex at work and the misuse of sex at work. The legal precedents are also discussed here which serve to illustrate the ways in which formal processes were beginning to take hold in employment relations.

Chapter 8 continues into the 1990s with a similar theme to the previous chapter. Despite a number of hard-fought but high-profile legal and moral victories (the case of Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas is interrogated in some depth in particular), the stories of harassment and other impropriety continue, along with stereotypes and extremes of blame, perpetration and victimization. The book concludes with the inclusion of the Clinton-Lewinsky relationship, and demonstrates how despite efforts to the contrary, power is marginalised and debates are focused on the woman ' s role as victim or seducer.

Berebitsky has indeed taken us on a historical journey through a range of evidence of sexual behaviours, attitudes and treatments in the workplace and the context of broader society. With clear and effective writing style, she explores different perspectives illustrating different interpretations of behaviours, cultures and attitudes related to sex and the office. Berebitsky demonstrates an account of the history of moral, ethical and legal judgments, in the light of a range of evidence. She condenses a significant amount of history into her chapters, which is done well as an overview. The evidence used is convincing because it is from first-hand accounts and documentary material and it is used directly to support points adequately. By making expansive use of stories, she demonstrates the complexity of social relations in office environments, imbued with power, politics and the potential for manipulation.

However, as with all such works, it could be argued that by necessity the overview is selective and perhaps by focusing on a shorter time period, more depth and criticality could have been accomplished. The book reads more in the style of a novel at times, which makes it enjoyable, however, the critical and theoretical quality could have been further extended by engaging more strongly with the broader field. Nonetheless, the latter chapters (7 to conclusion) were most interesting and revelatory from an analytical perspective. In addition, despite efforts to draw in the male narrative, overall the work leaves the impression of the majority perspective of women and their experiences; unfortunately this runs the risk of eliciting “tuts” of disapproval about how bad things were in the past (rather than connecting with the present) from the audience and creating a rather superficial engagement with the purpose of the book, to provide “a greater understanding of how cultural sources reflected and affected those experiences” (p. 20). The book can generate feelings of frustration – not with the author ' s analysis, but with the evident embedding of attitudes that persist; they have evolved in such a way that the underlying issues remain the same despite different forms of expression. Indeed, in the present day, sexuality, sexual behaviour and their manifestations in the workplace remain prevalent topics in popular culture (see Business Week ' s recent slideshow, Cohen (2012), recurrently discussed in association with risk, excitement and illicit encounters, as well as tribunal and punishment. “Inappropriate behaviour” (Pigott, 2013) and “indirect and non-specific concerns” (Stewart, 2013) about both men and women continue to be alleged in a range of workplace settings. More broadly, the Everyday Sexism project (www.everydaysexism.com/) demonstrates the perpetual discourse that enables such behaviour to be legitimated. The history of this book is being repeated, and repeated, and repeated (Everyday Sexism, 2013).

In sum, Berebitsky ' s book is a very involving and enjoyable piece, written in an accessible manner. It offers very useful material to form the basis of discussion particularly with students of business, management, organization studies and human resource management, provoking engagement with concepts of power, authority and gender in a range of organizational settings. Overall, the treatment of the subject matter is appropriate for an audience with an interest in some of the history of social and cultural attitudes towards sexual behaviour in organizational contexts.