Gendered Public Policies
Sexual Harassment in the
Workplace
computer-mediated communication allows for
anonymity, and it can allow for greater
participation
across the boundaries of gender, class and race
but …
it is also a fertile ground for aggression
and therefore …
the need for public policies, for netiquette, for
socializing the public spaces in the electronic
environment
Gendered Discourse in Electronic
Media
• What is your experience with computer-mediated
communication? List some examples of when one is able to
act anonymously?
• How is that liberating for an individual? How is that
constraining?
• What is the liberating / constraining effect on women as
participants?
• List social controls that you familiar with in the electronic
environment? What are the differences / similarities with f2f
communication?
Gender and Electronic Environments
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the assumptions
women outnumber men in the workforce, but men make up the
large majority of high-level administrative positions
women are less represented in computer science and engineering,
while they are well-represented as users
women are making numerous important contributions to the
computer field and in on-line communities and the proportion of
their contributions continues to rise
however just as in our larger society, public and professional
space on-line remains male-dominated
on-line communication is male-dominated and male-oriented
participation in the computer world is segregated according to sex
Gendered Discourse in Electronic
Media
• Public spaces and the electronic environments
• Censorship / free speech
• Liberatory prospects for electronic writing spaces (anonymity,
gender identity can be shifted; still, these are social spaces; how to
create society online)
• Online harassment
• How to identify it and how to act?
• Ferganchick-Neufang: Harassment on-line
• Brail: The Price of Admission
• Dibbell: A Rape in Cyberspace
Harassment on-line?
• What do women encounter online? How does that
affect them? (Brail: The Price of Admission)
• How can the electronic medium perpetuate sexism &
violence against women? (Brail; Dibbell)
• What can we do?
• Who needs to act? What are the sanctions? How to act?
(Ferganchick-Neufang)
Brail: The Price of Admission
• Interpret the title of this article in terms of issues
surrounding the Internet:
• what is ‘the price of admission’ and for whom
• explain ‘harassment / free speech’ dichotomy
• ‘Wild, Wild West’ metaphor and how it applies to cyberspace (5 years
ago, now, the future)
• What are the specifics of Brail’s story?
• How is this relevant for understanding women’s
experience with computer-mediated communication?
• Give examples from the media or own experience that
deal with similar issues.
Dibbell: The Rape in Cyberspace
• If it is possible to change identity online, and that
experience is liberating, why is it possible to conceive of
a ‘rape in cyberspace’?
• What is the story of this article?
• Comment on the following statement: “Internet is not
real’ -- it is only words’? To what degree is that true?
• Does the fact that harassment happens in a ‘virtual’
world make it ‘virtual harassment’?
Ferganchick-Neufang: Harassment on-line
legal definition of sexual harassment
• Sexual harassment is legally defined as any unwelcome sexual
advance, behavior, or conduct in any aspect of employment,
housing, or academia that creates an intimidating or hostile
environment.
• There are two types of sexual harassment: "Quid-pro-quo" (thisfor-that), and "hostile environment".
Ferganchick-Neufang: Harassment on-line
three scenarios for the workplace recognized by law
(a) Submission to sexual conduct or demand is, directly or
indirectly, a condition of employment
(b) Submission to sexual conduct or demand is, directly or
indirectly, a condition for employment decisions such as
promotion or a raise
(c) Submission to such conduct results in interference with work
performance or creates a hostile or intimidating work
environment
Ferganchick-Neufang: Harassment on-line
conditions for defining sexual harassment
• definition relates to situations in which the person who claims
harassment must necessarily be in a position of less institutional
authority than her or his aggressor (an employer, for example,
cannot be dependent upon an employee for conditions of
employment; nor can an employer be dependent upon an
employee for promotions and raises)
• the issue of institutional authority of the aggressor is taken for
granted but there may be reverse situations
• "bottom-up" or "contra-power" harassment simply does not
exist but it is useful (in gender perspective) to consider such
cases as well
Ferganchick-Neufang: Harassment on-line
contra-power harassment cases
• Research has shown that institutional authority does not level the
playing field between men and women (discourse analysis examples:
female employer-to-male employee, female doctor-to-male patient)
• Even when attaining a position of authority women can be at an
authoritative disadvantage
• Disadvantage women have in the real world is not eliminated in
virtual space
• Ferganchick-Neufang study student-to-teacher harassment in the
virtual writing environments (contra-power)
Ferganchick-Neufang: Harassment on-line
What can we do?
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Temper optimism with critical analysis
Train and prepare instructors
Train students
Create and enforce a discipline plan
Ensure safe and supportive administration
• Masculine space / feminine spaces
Gendered Public Policies: Case Studies
& Role--playing exercise
• Read 2-3 group members enact an event that would fall
into the category of sexual harassment according to the
definition (use role-playing technique)
• have 1-2 group members identify specific elements of the written policy
and apply them to the situation (scope including discussion of gray
areas, definition, behaviors)
• have 1-2 group members suggest a course of action (and all the steps
that would be taken according to the policy statement)
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The policy statement may be accessed at http://uhr.rutgers.edu/uhce/h-sexualharassment.html
Preparation for the Visual Essay
assignment:
Understanding the principles of
design and story-telling online