McGinley on Masculinities and Sexual Harassment

Ann McGinley (UNLV) has just posted on SSRN her article (forthcoming Colorado L. Rev.) Creating Masculine Identities: Harassment and Bullying 'Because of Sex.' Here's the abstract:

This article focuses on four fact patterns that confuse courts, scholars and employment lawyers in hostile work environment law. It employs masculinities theory and new research on the gendered nature of bullying to explain why the harassment in these fact patterns occurs because of sex.  In the first scenario, men harass women in traditionally male jobs, but the harassment is not directed specifically at the women.  In the second, men harass other men who apparently do not conform to socially-accepted gender norms of masculinity.  In the third, men harass other men, apparently hazing newcomers or engaging in "horseplay" with established workers.  In the fourth, men harass women using means that are not sexual or gendered.

McGinley concludes:

Workplaces are sites of construction of male gender identity.  While there may be nothing wrong with constructing gender identity at work, masculinities research and the new bullying research demonstrate that men’s proving of masculinity in the workplace can be destructive to many men and to women.  Title VII’s hostile work environment law provides a vehicle that, when interpreted properly, permits courts to conclude that severe or repeated harassing or bullying behavior, especially when performed by groups in sex segregated workplaces, discriminates against the target because of sex.  Only if this behavior is eliminated from work will Title VII reach its promise of affording equal employment opportunity to both men and women.

This is a fantastic article -- a must-read.

rb