The issue of sexual harassment in the workplace is one that has been widely discussed in contemporary American society since the beginning of Feminism's second wave. It is a topic that inspires copious images in one's mind. The greedy corporate boss who gets too grabby with his young secretary. The college intern who is unsure how to react to her supervisor's incessant questions about whether she "gets wild" when she's back on campus. The female executive who brushes off her male coworkers innuendo drenched remarks because, after all, she wouldn't want to seem like a bitch for making a big deal out of it.
While these are hypothetical situations that merely come to one's mind when the question of workplace sexual harassment is posed, they are ordeals that have more likely than not played out in the realities of too many women.
As Cordelia Fine discusses in her book, "Delusions of Gender," workplace sexual harassment seems to stem not from the potentially erotic charge of having women around, but rather as a means of controlling those women who attempt to infiltrate and dominate in previously all-male work environments. Fine references the Athena Factor report, which states that 69 percent of women in engineering and 56 percent of women working in corporate science fields had experienced sexual harassment.
In all of this discussion, however, it seems that one faction of the female community is overlooked.
As Cordelia Fine discusses in her book, "Delusions of Gender," workplace sexual harassment seems to stem not from the potentially erotic charge of having women around, but rather as a means of controlling those women who attempt to infiltrate and dominate in previously all-male work environments. Fine references the Athena Factor report, which states that 69 percent of women in engineering and 56 percent of women working in corporate science fields had experienced sexual harassment.
In all of this discussion, however, it seems that one faction of the female community is overlooked.
In our increasingly materialistic world and with the cost of college tuition ever rising, more and more underage girls enter the workforce everyday and more and more high school students are working after-school jobs in a variety of industries. They hand us our fast food out of drive thru windows, check us out at the grocery store, and babysit our children.
What we tend to forget is that these young women are no exception to the trend of workplace sexual harassment in America. Just from talking to women I've met here on the OU campus and considering my own experiences, it would appear that sexual harassment of underage women in the workplace is a problem. I've heard so many young women comment about "That one time..." where a boss, or a coworker did something that either walked the line of inappropriate or waved to it as they leapt over it. I've gathered testimony from a few young women about the harassment they faced in jobs they held in high school.
One young lady I spoke to, a junior at Ohio University, worked at a fast food restaurant in her hometown in Pennsylvania.
"I was working this one summer as a cashier at an Arby's and this one day, my boss comes up to me and says, 'Hey, don't wear your uniform tomorrow, I have something different for you to do. Just wear nicer clothes and be here by 11.' So, the next day, I show up to work at 11, like he asked, and he takes me back to his office and hands me this, like, mini skirt and tells me to go in the bathroom and put it on. I didn't really know what to think so I just did it and then came back to the office. The skirt was super short. Like inches above my fingertips when I put my arms at my sides and I felt kind of ridiculous in it! Then, when I went back in the office he hands me this cardboard sign, it was some kind of advertisement for a new sandwich they were featuring, and tells me I have to stand out front of the restaurant all day holding the sign to get people to come in. In the skirt.
I felt like a hooker, and it was about a billion degrees out that day. I'm standing there in this skirt that's way too short for my legs, sweating my brains out, and people are driving by and honking and shouting things at me. Some guys from school must have driven by three times that day. It was embarrassing! I was out there in front of that restaurant for seven hours holding that sign wearing that short fucking skirt and for a minute I was like, 'What are we really advertising here?'
Whenever I would come in to get water, [my boss] would get all pissy and tell me to stop coming in so much, that I wasn't doing my job. I'm like, 'Dude, I'm already wearing this ridiculous fucking skirt, it's a million degrees out there, what do you want me to do?' But, of course, I didn't say that. He was my boss! This was one of the first jobs I'd ever had and fifteen year-old [Stacy] was just trying to save up to get a cell phone.
It's funny, actually, because if a boss tried to pull that shit with me today I would walk the fuck out, no way. It would never happen. But I was young and I didn't know. I can't imagine being there again. It was definitely harassment, and even though he didn't touch me or say anything sexual to me, it was harassment based in the fact that I was a girl, that I was young and had legs and boobs. It was ridiculous.
[My boss] never had me do that again, but seriously, once was enough. I ended up quitting at the end of the summer, but I'll never forget standing in there in that fucking skirt. From then on, I was [Stacy] in the skirt, my coworkers gave me shit and would tease me about it all the time. One of the guys wouldn't let it go, kept making little comments about my legs. It was exhausting."
Experiences like the one faced by this young woman are not uncommon, at least if you visit a dorm hall or cafeteria table occupied by women and ask. Instances of workplace sexual harassment like the one described above are one of the purest forms of abuse of power. The victim in these situations is someone young, inexperienced, and often in a position where standing up for oneself is difficult. These factors lead many young women who are faced with harassment early on to tolerate it and ignore the way it demeans them. I would argue that this cycle of indifference and silence continues into adulthood and leads many women to ignore the sexually harassing incidents they face in their professional lives.
One way to lighten the effects of this cycle is to ensure that it never begins, by empowering young women to stand for themselves and fostering a society that appreciates these girls for the things they are truly capable of.
Experiences like the one faced by this young woman are not uncommon, at least if you visit a dorm hall or cafeteria table occupied by women and ask. Instances of workplace sexual harassment like the one described above are one of the purest forms of abuse of power. The victim in these situations is someone young, inexperienced, and often in a position where standing up for oneself is difficult. These factors lead many young women who are faced with harassment early on to tolerate it and ignore the way it demeans them. I would argue that this cycle of indifference and silence continues into adulthood and leads many women to ignore the sexually harassing incidents they face in their professional lives.
One way to lighten the effects of this cycle is to ensure that it never begins, by empowering young women to stand for themselves and fostering a society that appreciates these girls for the things they are truly capable of.
- Audrey Imes
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