Crossing the Line: How Women in the Building Trades Interpret and Respond to Sexual Conduct at Work

A significant number of women who experience sexual conduct in the workplace do not define it as sexual harassment. This has caused a discrepancy between social science measures of sexual harassment and women’s perceptions and experiences. As a consequence, studies have begun to examine how workers...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of contemporary ethnography 2010-06, Vol.39 (3), p.297-327
Main Author: Denissen, Amy M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Construction industry
Cultural anthropology
Equality
Ethnography
Ethnology
Family. Family relations
Female employees
Females
Fieldwork
Gender
Inequality
Perceptions
Sexual behaviour
Sexual Harassment
Social control
Social structure and social relations
Trade
Woman status
Work environment
Workplaces
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Summary:A significant number of women who experience sexual conduct in the workplace do not define it as sexual harassment. This has caused a discrepancy between social science measures of sexual harassment and women’s perceptions and experiences. As a consequence, studies have begun to examine how workers distinguish between wanted and unwanted sexual behavior. Through in-depth interviews and ethnographic fieldwork with women who work in the building trades, this study examines how tradeswomen interpret and respond to the sexual conduct of their coworkers. Using a micro-politics of trouble framework, the author shows how interpretations of sexual conduct are shaped up exactly in the process of responding to problematic interactions. The analysis finds that many initial responses to unwanted sexual conduct attempt to restore good relations between coworkers. However, if the sexual conduct is considered extreme or if initial attempts to resolve the trouble are unsuccessful, the actions may be reinterpreted and responded to informally as actions that “cross the line” even as tradeswomen face constraints in exercising formal punitive measures.
ISSN:0891-2416
1552-5414
DOI:10.1177/0891241609341827