Horseplay or Harassment: Contested Masculinities on the Job and in the Courts

• In Event: 2442 - Men and Masculinities in the #MeToo Era

Abstract

Among other accomplishments, the #Me Too movement has stimulated debate over performances of masculinity that were tolerated or even applauded in the recent past, but are now a liability for employers. However, in assessing the potential impact of #Me Too on sexual harassment in legal theory, prominent feminist legal scholars (Schulz, 2018; Greene, 2018) suggest that media attention to sexual harassment has, unfortunately, reinforced a too narrow understanding of sexual harassment as largely limited to a narrative where powerful men perpetrators extract heterosexual “favors” from the women they harass. In contrast, several decades of social science research show that sexual harassment is often a means for men to assert their masculinity and dominance by denigrating women and, in some cases, other men, and is not necessarily or mostly about having or wanting sex. With the aim of broadening the discussion of harassment, this paper focuses on the workplace sexual harassment of men by other men. I examine narratives found in documents from employment discrimination (Title VII) sexual harassment lawsuits to develop an analysis of how masculinity is currently contested in various work settings and in the law. The documents examined include EEOC press releases plus various court documents from a broad spectrum of over 90 sexual harassment lawsuits filed by the EEOC and private attorneys. Two main themes emerging from the data are explored in detail: sexualized male horseplay, and conceptions of non-conforming masculinity.

Author

• Cynthia Deitch, George Washington University