Workplace Sexuality: When Does One

Workplace Sexuality: When does one worker's sexually open workplace become another's hostile environment?

One man's (or one woman's) sexually open workplace is another man (or another woman's) sexually hostile workplace. Sexuality is a personal thing, and judgments of what is sexual harassment is often contingent upon one's gender, culture, and subjective set of assumptions. According to most legal definitions, a hostile work environment "refers to harassment or discrimination" that is a violation of a person's civil rights including harassment or discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation. But a woman might view certain behavior as harassing because it draws attention to her sexuality, and a man might view his behavior, or simply his water-cooler topic of discussion, like a recent Seinfield episode, as a mere jest. A more colloquial, but still valuable definition to consider might be a sexually harassing workplace environment is one in which, because of the sexually oppressive atmosphere, all of the people in the workplace "can not do their best work or be their most productive due to conditions in their workplace," relating to sexuality ("Hostile Workplace," 1997)

In other words, a sexually open workplace becomes hostile when one or a group of employees prevent another, or several employees, from doing his or her job, or their job, to his or her maximum capacity and comfort, or their maximum capacity and comfort. For instance, if one individual "kept telling another employee sexual jokes that the second employee found offensive, it would be sexual harassment in the workplace. If two employees dated and engaged in consensual sex, this would not be sexual harassment. If one of the two then wanted to terminate the relationship, and the other used the unequal relative terms and conditions of employment of the work place to further the relationship, this would be sexual harassment in the workplace." (Sexual Harassment in the Workplace, 2004) in other words, consent is key -- conceivably a man could be made to feel uncomfortable, perhaps by another man, through repeated exposure to sexual jokes even after the perpetrator of the 'humor' was asked to cease and desist.