Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Steven Z. Chu
Abstract
This essay will focus on the subject of sexual harassment in the workplace and academic
institutions. Specifically, this paper will explore and analyze why it is many women do not come
forward with their sexual harassment incidents. This topic was chosen because it loosely relates
to the central idea of the opinion piece by Katie J. M. Baker of the New York Times titled, “What
to do With These Bad Men?” The article made the claim that not enough is being done to ensure
the safety of women at workplaces and academic facilities, and this paper will analyze the reason
behind that. This research topic is important because as a student living on a college campus, my
peers and I are the ones that are most directly affected by this issue. This paper will take
scholarly sources as well as personal experiences taken from TEDTalks to take part in the
“We went to dinner, and in the backseat of a car, he suddenly lunged on top of me and
stuck his tongue down my throat.” This was an experience that Gretchen Carlson had to go
through in 1989 when a meeting with a car producer went south, she explains. She is not the only
one. Per Statista, 42% of surveyed women report having been sexually harassed in 2017. That is
42% too high. In the same year, 25.5% of Americans surveyed believe that sexual harassment is
only a minor issue, with 14% being men and 11.5% being women. Just with these surface level
statistics, it is evident that even today, sexual harassment is still not being taken as seriously as it
should. Of course, that is not to say that substantial progress has not been made. In 2017, Alyssa
Milano started the #MeToo movement. The movement encouraged women around the world to
open up about their sexual harassment encounters. Since then, thousands, if not millions of
women have used the hashtag to spread awareness. However, why did it take such a monumental
movement for women to speak out in the first place? Why do women stay silent about sexual
harassment?
The first source, “Sexual Harassment: Why do Victims so often Resign?” (2019) by
Karin Calitz, analyzes why it is exactly that it is usually the victim of sexual harassment that
resigns instead of the perpetrator. The paper argues that Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
plays a large part in victims being left with no choice but to resign. It uses a South African court
case, E v Ikwezi Municipality, to provide evidence of how the pain and suffering, psychological
damage, and loss of a job could have been prevented. In the court case, the perpetrator only got
“slap on the wrist”. Unable to cope with working under him, the victim felt like she had no other
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choice but to resign. The author concluded that many of what happened could have easily been
prevented through proper training of its employees and better protection for the victim
The second source, “Sexism at the Centre: Locating the Problem of Sexual Harassment”
(2015) by Leila Whitley and Tiffany Page, discusses the sexual harassment that occurs between
staff members and students at academic institutions, particularly in colleges. Specifically, the
paper analyzes the role that power plays in these incidents, and how it affects not only whether or
not students are able to come out and speak about it, but also how it makes it difficult for
students to refuse these sexual advances in the first place. This paper also looks at how sexism is
a part of the issue. Many times, when students come out about their sexual harassment
experiences, the issue is often deflected away from that of sexual harassment and towards an
issue of women trying to defame the professor and institution (New Formations).
The third source is from a TEDTalk by Gretchen Carlson, titled “How we can end sexual
harassment at work” (2017). In her TED Talk, Carlson speaks of her own experiences with
sexual harassment in the workplace. She inspires by listing three things that society should do to
better ourselves. She proclaims that society as a whole will no longer be underestimated,
intimidated, or set back. Through sharing her own experiences, Carlson manages to further
Since sexual harassment is not something that can in any way be condoned, all the
sources implicitly agree that sexual harassment in workplaces and academic facilities need to
end. Specifically, all three sources analyze sexual harassment as an issue of a power dynamic. In
Karin Calitz’s paper, “Sexual Harassment: Why do Victims so often Resign?”, Calitz explains
that in most cases, sexual harassment occurs from a position of power. In her paper, Calitz quotes
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the court, “At its core, sexual harassment is concerned with the exercise of power and in the
main reflects the power relations that exist both in society generally and specifically within a
particular workplace (Campbell, para. 20)” (2019, para. 42). In other words, sexual harassment
occurs because often times, the perpetrator utilizes his position of power to make the victim feel
Similarly, Leila Whitley and Tiffany Page discuss the same position of power, but in the
setting of an academic facility. “The power inherent in the teaching relationship creates an
unequal dynamic that can leave students vulnerable to abuses of that power” (2015, para. 14).
Like a superior in a workplace, a professor at a university holds power over students through the
influences they have on the grades of the students. As an example, Whitley and Page refer to a
statement made by a student that fell victim to this kind of sexual harassment: “I couldn’t say
‘no’ because he would have responded with rage and revenge. He would have ruined my career. I
began to hate myself for not telling anyone, for projecting a sunny image when everything was
not okay. I would have loved to tell him how much I hated it when he touched me, hated his
laugh, hated his disgusting ratty beard, but I was too scared about what he would do to my
reputation if I tried to report” (2015, para. 17). Again, the victims are often coerced into
committing in these sexual acts through the fear that their academic careers may be tarnished.
Finally, in Gretchen Carlson’s TED Talk, Carlson speaks of her own experiences as a victim of
sexual harassment through a position of power. She explains how when she was at the end of her
journey as Miss America, a high-ranking TV producer who she thought was helping her, made
unwanted sexual advances towards her: “I didn’t realize that to ‘get into the business’ – silly me
– he also intended to get into my pants” (2017, para. 8). This is a direct example of the points the
previous two sources were making about sexual harassment and power. Men in a position of
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WHY DO WOMEN STAY SILENT ABOUT SEXUAL HARASSMENT?
power often feel as if their subordinates owe them something. In most cases, what is owed is a
sexual favor.
Where the first two sources have their differences is in the context of each discussion.
Karin Calitz speaks mainly about sexual harassment in the setting of workplaces, while Leila
Whitley and Tiffany Page speak about sexual harassment in the setting of academic institutions.
Furthermore, Karin Calitz’s paper focuses on the traumatic effects sexual harassment can have
on a victim. In the case of E v Ikwezi Municipality, due to the incompetence of the company in
which the sexual harassment incident took place, “The plaintiff thus had to live with the burden
of working together with her harasser. She saw the harasser quite often and she testified that on
such occasions she suffered anxiety attacks” (2019, para. 12). Later, it is explained that the
victim was forced to resign due to PTSD. From most point of views, it seems like injustice that
the victim had to resign while the perpetrator only got “a written warning and two weeks
suspension without pay” (2019, para. 14). Alternatively, Whitley and Page examines the role that
sexism plays in sexual harassment. According to Whitley and Page, many student victims “also
report feeling unable to object or resist their sexualization” (2015, para. 12). In the perspective of
Karin Calitz, the reason would have solely been due to the power dynamic between faculty and
students. While this may be a part of the reason, Whitley and Page argue that institutionalized
sexism also has to do with it, as “it appears as a number of other shifting problems which include
the problem of the women who complain and the harm caused to academic reputations” (2015,
para. 1). In other words, the issue is shifted from that of the university (professors and other
faculty members) to that of a woman trying to tarnish the reputation of the facility.
Although sexual harassment has been a pressing issue for years, a lingering question has
always been why it is that sexual harassment is not discussed more. Through my extensive
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research, I believe that I have discovered for myself and hopefully for others who share my
naivety the answer to that question. Sexual harassment, while indulges in violence, is more about
power. By circumstance, it will always be difficult for me to truly get it as a male. However, the
least I can do is be educated and knowledgeable in these issues so that I can voice my own
opinions and support for this issue. For my upcoming webpage assignment, I hope to focus on
the role power and sexism plays in sexual harassment, particularly in workplaces and academic
facilities. Up until now, the research I have conducted has given me a different perspective to the
issue, one that helps me begin to understand the gravity of the issue of sexual harassment. To
continue my journey in becoming more educated, I will research for other root causes for sexual
harassment.
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References
Calitz, K. (2019). Sexual Harassment: Why do Victims so often Resign? E v Ikwezi Municipality
2016 37 ILJ 1799 (ECG). Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal, 22, 1–23.
https://doi.org/10.17159/1727-3781/2019/v22i0a5169
Whitley, L., & Page, T. (2015). Sexism at the Centre: Locating the Problem of Sexual
Carlson, G. (2017). How we can end sexual harassment at work. TED. Retrieved from
https://www.ted.com/talks/gretchen_carlson_how_we_can_end_sexual_harassment_at_w
ork/up-next
United States - assessment of sexual harassment as a problem in 2017, by gender | Survey. (n.d.).
sexual-harassment-of-women-as-a-problem-gender/