Is Cooperate America a Sexist Place?
In today’s society, where men and women are both offered positions in the same occupations, many women suffer from sexual harassment in the workplace. Female figures are already objectified and viewed as less than. As a woman in the workforce, one’s work ethic, strength, and intelligence is undermined. Women are also disrespected and offered less opportunities than their male counterparts. Men, specifically male superiors use sexism against women in the workplace. Undermining and belittling women to put themselves on a pedestal, which allows them to feel entitled to women. This work and power dynamic is the reason men feel comfortable making unwelcomed sexual advances on their female counterparts. Ultimately, sexual harassment in the workplace is rooted in the notion that women are incompetent and inferior to men.
For example, “The Office”, an American T.V. series that depicts the everyday lives of office employees at Dunder Mifflin Paper Company displays the work dynamic, power dynamic, and gender dynamic in cooperate America and how these factors contribute to sexual harassment towards women in the workplace. The branch manager, Michael, is well-meaning, yet incompetent and lacks empathy for his female employees. He is sexist, oftentimes explicitly makes dirty jokes towards the women in the workplace, and physically and verbally abuses the female employees. His assistant Pam, works closely with him as the office receptionist. She is sweet, soft-spoken, and attractive. The relationship Michael and Pam share seems to accura tely display the stereotypes of cooperate America. Michael usually has Pam perform menial tasks that aren’t work related for the most part; the two don’t work as partners. Pam is more of Michael’s personal support and is only around to assist him, just as in cooperate America, where male superiors have female assistants who don’t really do much work. In the cooperate world, it is usually presumed that the male superior and female assistant are sexually involved. Michael reinforces this stereotype by flirting with Pam, despite her being engaged. He makes suggestive if harmless remarks about Pam’s beauty and appearance. In an episode when Phyllis — an older, plus-sized, less attractive woman — gets flashed, Michael isn’t genuinely concerned. Instead, his response was “Did he even see Pam?” and makes a joke of the incident. Pam, like other stereotypical assistants, is tolerant of and subservient to her male superior, although she isn’t afraid of him.
As a male superior in cooperate America, Michael doesn’t face extreme consequences for his inappropriate behavior, but is let off with a warning. This amount of freedom ultimately allows him to infantilize and sexually harass the women at Dunder Mifflin. Michael reinforces gender roles in the work place by setting lower work standards for the female employees and not offering them opportunities to advance in the work force. Besides Pam, Michael sexually harasses the other female employees with his insensitive remarks. He once asked Phyllis if she was a lesbian because she cut her hair, and also tried to engage in conversation with the women by asking what a pap-smear is. Michael makes the work place uncomfortable for female employees and always crosses personal boundaries. This tolerance of harassment towards women can be compared to the tolerance of violence towards women discussed in Kimberle Crenshaw’s article. Crenshaw touches on Representational Intersectionality by introducing her concern that the range of acceptable behavior is being broadened by the constant propagation of misogynistic imagery. This relates to the cooperate world to the extent that the spectrum of unacceptable behavior female employees tolerate from their male superiors is through the roof. The power associated with being a male superior contributes to gender hierarchy, and by extension, the emphasis of maintaining traditional gender roles. Crenshaw then addresses the ‘2 Live Crew’ case, artists who were arrested because their song lyrics were considered obscene. The artists argued that it was freedom of expression, although the lyrics were sexually explicit. This kind of “freedom” compares to the liberation male superiors exercise in the corporate world against working women. Men, specifically male superiors, need to acknowledge the fact that women are now considered equal to them. Men and women can now hold the same titles in the cooperate world. Women should no longer have to fight or prove themselves to their male counterparts or superiors. As Americans, we have allowed misbehavior to become socially acceptable, whether it’s racist, sexist, or homophobic. The tolerance of this behavior only continues to grow as people continue to get put down based on their identities, yet we choose to laugh at these situations. Stereotypes, gender roles, and other widely held preconceptions all must be eliminated in order to move forward in society, especially for women. Public outcasts like Michael, should be used as an example to show society the kind of individual we should not be like. In addition, people like Michael should not be given higher positions in the work place to begin with. Any unethical individual should not be given authority over others. Instead, those individuals are people who need a model citizen as a superior so they can be guided in the right direction.
