Journal Article

Sexual Harassment, Workplace Authority, and the Paradox of Power

Uggen, Christopher, Blackstone, Amy, McLaughlin, Heather

2012

Overview

Power is at the core of feminist theories of sexual harassment, although it has rarely been measured directly in terms of workplace authority. Popular characterizations portray male supervisors harassing female subordinates, but power-threat theories suggest that women in authority may be more frequent targets. This article analyzes longitudinal survey data and qualitative interviews from the Youth Development Study to test this idea and to delineate why and how supervisory authority, gender nonconformity, and workplace sex ratios affect harassment. Relative to nonsupervisors, female supervisors are more likely to report harassing behaviors and to define their experiences as sexual harassment. Sexual harassment can serve as an equalizer against women in power, motivated more by control and domination than by sexual desire. Interviews point to social isolation as a mechanism linking harassment to gender nonconformity and women's authority, particularly in male-dominated work settings.

• Publisher: Sage Publications,SAGE Publications,American Sociological Association
• Subject: Adolescent development / Authority / Behavior / Behavior modeling / Civil Rights Legislation / Conformity / Data Analysis / Disproportionate Representation / Dominance / Employment discrimination / Females / Femininity / Feminism / Feminist Theory / Gender / Gender Discrimination / Gender identity / Gender nonconforming / Gender roles / Grievance Procedures / Harassment / Individual Differences / Inequality / Interviews / Job Performance / Longitudinal Studies / Males / Masculinity / Men / Modeling / Organizational behaviour / Organizational culture / Power / Power Structure / Predictor Variables / Qualitative Research / Sex / Sex discrimination / Sex Ratio / Sexual desire / Sexual Harassment / Social development / Social Isolation / Sociology / Sociology of work / Sociology of work and sociology of organizations / Studies / Subordinates / Supervisors / Vertical Organization / Victims / Williams, Christine / Women / Work Environment / Work place / Working population. Employment. Women's work / Working women / Workplaces