KESHA’S BATTLE WITH WORKPLACE ABUSE A Critical Analysis: Kesha’s Battle with Workplace Abuse NAME 1 KESHA’S BATTLE WITH WORKPLACE ABUSE 2 Introduction Sexual harassment and sexual assault are becoming more common in the everyday work environment. Famous pop singer and songwriter Kesha claims she has been both sexually and verbally assaulted beginning when she was only 18 years old, by her producer Dr. Luke at the Sony recording studio in California (Gomez, 2014). Initially, Kesha kept her suffering at the hands of Dr. Luke quiet and away from the public world, due to the significant amount of control and power Dr. Luke had on the songs she produced and the future of her music career. In early 2014, Kesha became courageous enough to bring the issue to the public and her fans and all over the world. An international movement had started called “free Kesha.” This statement meant that Kesha should be freed from the toxic contract she was in with Sony and Dr. Luke. This growing trend of support for the struggling artist received the attention of many other pop sensations at the time such as Taylor Swift and Katy Perry who reached out to Kesha in ways of public support on social media and even large donations to help her financial affairs. After the issue had been made public, Kesha and her lawyer filed a suit against Dr. Luke stating he had “sexually, physically, verbally, and emotionally abused Kesha to the point where she nearly lost her life” (Johnston, 2016). Kesha further claimed that the abuse she had experienced for many years had led to the development of physical and mental suffering and strain. Dr. Luke has outright denied having any form of sexual contact with Kesha in his life and stated that “she is like a sister to me” (Johnston, 2016) to his followers on social media. Kesha’s attempt to break free from Dr. Luke and Sony recordings was denied by the New York Supreme Court of Justice. Kesha is required by New York Law to continue her contract with Dr. Luke, which places her in a victimized position as she is therefore required to continue working alongside her alleged abuser. KESHA’S BATTLE WITH WORKPLACE ABUSE 3 Problem Analysis Course Concept: Counter-Productive Work Behaviors It is quite clear that the acts Dr. Luke committed upon Kesha have affected the success of her music career for the rest of her life. The several accounts of abuse Kesha experienced are a direct indicator of counter-productive work behaviors, particularly workplace harassment. This individual behavior is defined as “voluntary behaviours that have potential to directly or indirectly harm the organization” (McShane, Steen, & Tasa, 2015). Many examples of this theory are present in Kesha’s situation such as “harassing coworkers, creating unnecessary conflict, being untruthful, stealing and sabotaging work” (McShane et al., 2015). Kesha experienced workplace harassment in many different forms that took place in the recording studio and have impacted her health and professional music making career. Sexual Harassment. The primary form of counter-productive work behaviours Kesha experienced was sexual harassment. Workplace sexual harassment “has been identified as one of the most damaging and ubiquitous barriers to career success and satisfaction for women” (Willness, Steel, & Lee, 2007). Sexual harassment “unreasonably interferes with work performance, and creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment” (McShane et al., 2015). On multiple occasions, sources representing the artist explained how “he would tell her to take what he described as “sober pills,” but which she later claimed were in fact the date rape drug GHB” (Iggulden, 2016). Sources confirm that Dr. Luke had the tendency to use drugs and alcohol to remove her defenses (Gomez, 2014). Kesha is now 29 years old, and has been the victim of sexual abuse in the work place for 11 years. The sexual harassment Kesha endured lasted for almost a decade KESHA’S BATTLE WITH WORKPLACE ABUSE 4 before she stood up for herself and took legal action. The artist stated she didn’t report it because she didn’t want the success of her music career to be affected. Maura Johnston (2016) discusses the fact that “she (Kesha) therefore never dared talk about, let alone report, what Dr. Luke had done to her.” Eventually, Kesha could no longer tolerate the abuse at the hands of her superior and went public with the issue. According to Anna Paperny’s article (2015), almost 40% of all sexual assault goes unreported. This is mainly because the victim believes reporting the problem would do no good and that the individual would rather move on from the issue and try to forget about it (Paperny, 2015). For the majority of Kesha’s music making career, these incidents went completely unreported, and she was therefore obligated to suffer behind closed doors. Verbal Harassment. Sadly, Kesha’s harassment was not only sexual, as Dr. Luke contributed to verbally abuse her as well. Verbal abuse was a form of keeping himself in control, Dr. Luke would often make rude comments about her weight and physical appearance. “He had always been very disrespectful about her weight” (Gomez, 2014), asking the artist if she “had ever tried running before” (Gomez, 2014). Avid pokes at Kesha’s vulnerable self-concept resulted in the development of a severe eating disorder. Kesha became a bulimic, admitting herself to rehab multiple times throughout the early stages of working with Dr. Luke (Johnston, 2016). It is clear that this disorder affected her music, as her latest album produced titled “Warrior” took much longer than expected, because she was required to take care of herself, and ensure her wellbeing during the making of the album. The toxic relationship she had with her producer was detrimental to her success. Lastly, Kesha’s eating disorder and extremely low self-esteem resulted in her developing severe depression and attempting to take her life multiple times (Johnston, 2016). The impact of workplace assault, victimization and abuse will undeniably cause the employee, or in this case KESHA’S BATTLE WITH WORKPLACE ABUSE 5 music artist, to suffer tremendously and have a difficult time accomplishing that which they were hired to do. Sabotaging Work. Sabotaging work is any act of purposely destroying or interfering with other colleges affairs in the workplace (McShane et al., 2015). When Dr. Luke found out that Kesha had finally spoken out and was engaging in legal means to solve the problem, he didn’t take the issue lightly. The producer and his lawyer filed a countersuit for defamation and breach of contract (Johnston, 2016). It has been stated that was an act to sabotage Kesha and rob her financially by having to pay for court dates and a lawyer. A source in Patrick Gomez’s article (2014) confirms that “he (Dr. Luke) would rather drain her dry over a legal battle than let her out of her contract.” The producer has had a successful past and is known for wasting money just to get what he wants. Even when they worked together, Kesha would try to show Dr. Luke a song she had written, if the idea was not his own, he would completely shoot down the idea and force her to record one of his songs (Gomez, 2014). Gomez (2014) further reports “he would lock her (Kesha) in a room and tell her she couldn’t come out until she finished a song.” While she was working for him, and now when she’s pursuing legal action against him, Dr. Luke is trying to sabotage Kesha in any way possible and have an adverse effect on the musical career ahead of her. Overall, forms of sexual and verbal harassment have taken a toll on Kesha’s physical and mental being. These terrors have slowed the rate at which she produces music, caused her to develop disorders that she will battle for the rest of her life, and changed the way Kesha thinks and feels about making music in general. These various forms of counter productive work behaviours have outcomes that severely impact the individual in a very negative way. Outcomes of Problem KESHA’S BATTLE WITH WORKPLACE ABUSE 6 Organizational Outcome: Decreased Job Satisfaction. Chelsea Willness’s article (2007) states that “the main impact of job-related sexual harassment is decreased job satisfaction.” Decreased job satisfaction include negative feelings and “appraisal of the perceived job characteristics, work environment, and emotional experiences at work” (McShane et al., 2015). This sense of dissatisfaction will mainly contribute to a neglect behavior towards making music with Dr. Luke. Neglect is defined as: “reducing work effort, paying less attention to quality, and increasing absenteeism and lateness” (McShane et al., 2015). It is evident that recording and working with abusive Dr. Luke would result in Kesha not wanting to make music anymore and lower the level of enjoyment she experiences while recording, being terrified of the possible harassment that she may endure. The artist would relate her work life with the fact that her producer would make fun of her weight or try to engage in sexual behaviors. As a result, she recorded less music than ever before, neglecting Dr. Luke, and the Sony recording company as a whole. She openly stated, “all I ever wanted was to be able to make music without being afraid, scared, or abused” (Johnston 2016). Ill Physical and Mental Health. Following an extended period of sexual harassment, typically the victim develops health and well-being issues (Willness, 2007). To make this theory apply to Kesha’s situation even more accurately, the two most common forms of illness are depression and suicidal behaviors (Rettner, 2011). Rachael Rettner (2011) further described in her article that “of women who had experienced frequent, unwanted sexual touching, 15 percent said they had made suicidal attempts "often" in the past six months.” From the repeated accounts of sexual and verbal abuse, Kesha developed severe depression and eating disorders. She was constantly in and out of rehab, and also attempted to take her life multiple times. Kesha and her KESHA’S BATTLE WITH WORKPLACE ABUSE 7 lawyer state that these problems specifically started and got progressively worse by working with Dr. Luke (Gomez, 2014). Conclusion Since almost the beginning of her career, Kesha has battled with workplace sexual and verbal abuse at the hands of her producer Dr. Luke. These various forms of counter-productive work behavior have greatly affected her physical and mental health, as well as contributing to a severe decrease in job satisfaction. To this day, Kesha is trapped in a recording contract that is detrimental to her well-being and consequently catastrophic for her musical career ahead of her. KESHA’S BATTLE WITH WORKPLACE ABUSE References McShane, S. L., Steen, S. L., & Tasa, K. (2015). Canadian Organizational Behavior. (9th ed.). McGraw-Hill Ryerson. Willness, C. R., Steel, P., & Lee, K. (2007). A META-ANALYSIS OF THE ANTECEDENTS AND CONSEQUENCES OF WORKPLACE SEXUAL HARASSMENT. Blackwell Publishing, 127-162. Calgary. Gomez, P. (2014, October 14th). Kesha Accuses Dr. Luke of Sexual Assault. Retrieved from People's Magazine: http://people.com/celebrity/kesha-accuses-dr-luke-of-sexual-assault/ Iggulden, C. (2016, February 24). How Kesha’s claims of rape, bullying and abuse expose the dark side of the music industry. Retrieved from The Sun: https://www.thesun.co.uk/archives/news/241322/how-keshas-claims-of-rape-bullyingand-abuse-expose-the-dark-side-of-the-music-industry/ Johnston, M. (2016, February 22). Kesha and Dr. Luke: Everything You Need to Know to Understand the Case. Retrieved from RollingStone: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/kesha-and-dr-luke-everything-you-need-toknow-to-understand-the-case-20160222 Paperny, A. M. (2015, February 23). Why don't women report rape? Because they get no justice when they do. Retrieved from Global News: http://globalnews.ca/news/1845136/whydont-women-report-rape-because-most-get-no-justice-when-they-do/ 8 KESHA’S BATTLE WITH WORKPLACE ABUSE Rettner, R. (2011, November 9). 6 Ways Sexual Harassment Damages Women's Health. Retrieved from Life Science Articles: http://www.livescience.com/16949-sexualharassment-health-effects.htm 9 KESHA’S BATTLE WITH WORKPLACE ABUSE 10
