Provocative Dress, Sex Harassment, and the Great Gender Divide
A sports reporter (formerly Miss Spain) was supposedly harassed at a New York Jets practice. (Here and here.) The reporter says she never felt threatened, but other reporters allege that Jets players acted inappropriately. Because the sports reporter wore a pair of skintight jeans, this incident provides the opportunity to examine whether provocative attire worn by a female has any role to play in a sex harassment case.
Inappropriate conduct constitutes sex harassment only if it’s “unwelcome.” Since the early days of sex harassment cases, there’s been the question of whether revealing attire can provoke harassment to the point of making it “welcome.”
In an exhaustive article written by law professor Theresa M. Beiner, this question is considered. (Here and here.) Surprisingly, Professor Beiner’s research shows that few employers have used dress as a defense. Rather, dress is usually made an issue by the female.
She uses lewd comments about her low-cut tops and buttocks-revealing shorts as evidence of harassment. There have even been cases in which an employer’s criticism of a female’s revealing attire was used as evidence of harassment.
A female’s attire doesn’t, of course, prove that she welcomes harassment. To many men, however, it does mean that she desires scrutiny of her body. And if the urges of The Man Gene are unleashed, some men will conclude that the female is interested in having sex with them.
Some will argue that this makes men a pitiful lot and shouldn’t be allowed to let sexual harassers off the hook. That’s absolutely true but no more true than The Man Gene’s explosive power over pitiful men.
It’s unlikely that the Jets case will elucidate the mysteries of sex harassment or explain why the gender divide causes men and women to see sexual subjects so differently. But hope springs eternal.
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I’ve seen a read quite a bit on this the past day or two, and I am absolutely shocked and appalled. She was Miss Spain? What is wrong with them? They didn’t have anybody hotter than that? I demand an investigation!
Well, Frank, I think the Jets are conducting an investigation but not the kind you have in mind.
As always, thank you for your incisive comment.
John
The alleged sports reporter Ines Sainz (formerly Miss Spain) looks and acts just like a Junior in High School teenager girl dressing for maximum attention going to the mall to have her bodacious booty parts ogled. she has no business dressing unprofessionally knowingly mingling with men in pro football needless to say she should not be allowed inside a mens’ (or boys) locker room since they don’t have a stripper pole in there The locker room is not like a confessional inside a church for goodness sakes and the guys are taking care of their personal hygiene inside there which requires nudity, towels, getting gear cleaned, injuries looked at, and overall team-mate jocularity and bonding…what do you expect from the men when a babe walks in stands around enjoying all their attention and eyes on her tight body wear (blinders on or what?) She’s simply just a hot tramp!!!
Rick,
Thanks for your comment. I would guess that you present a point of view on the subject that would be shared by a goodly number of men.
Your point of view, however, isn’t the law’s point of view. A court might take what the reporter was wearing at the time of the incident into account but not much. Of course, many photos of the reporter have appeared since the incident happened, and it’s difficult to remove those photos from one’s mind, even though they aren’t all that relevant to the claim that the reporter was harassed by Jets players on the practice field or in the locker room. I wouldn’t call her a hot tramp, but she is sexy and seems comfortable sharing her sexiness.
I’ve been disappointed that, so far, no women have commented on my post. I really would like to have a woman’s perspective on this, even better if several women would give their points of view. That would make the discussion of this subject much more substantive.
Thanks again for your comment.
John
Being sexual does not warrant harassment.
The attention focused on the woman’s attire is misplaced. It would be like proclaiming the blankness of a wall in a graffiti vandalism case.
If the woman’s dress or behavior was inappropriate, it should have been addressed by her employer.
Anastasia,
Thanks very much for your comment.
You’re right, being sexual doesn’t warrant harassment. Because of The Man Gene (which I know some discount as quack science), when a woman is sexual or acts sexual (which would include wearing provocative clothes), a man ordinarily doesn’t think the woman wants to be harassed. He thinks she must be interested in having sex with men she is being sexual or acting sexual with. That often leads men to say things, perhaps do things, that turn out to be harassing to the woman because the men were blinded by misinterprtation.
I have tried to get my head around your analogy of a blank wall in a graffiti vandalism case but have been unsuccessful. But I am a man.
An employer does have the right to counsel employees about their dress. Apparently, the reporter’s employer never had been concerned about it. Moreover, she wasn’t at her employer’s place of business. She was at the facility of a third party. Third parties can be guilty of harassment under the law. If Jets management had told the reporter to change her clothes or had called her employer and said this reporater needs to change her clothes, Jets management could have been accused of sex harassment.
Employers and third parties often find themselves in difficult situations when a sex harassment claim is made. They still have an obligation to prevent harassment, and it seems to me that Jets management has addressed it. The next time this reporter is on the playing field or in a locker room, it’s less likely that the catcalls will occur, but it’s just as likely that most of the men who see her (assuming she doesn’t change her ways in terms of the way she dresses)will have thoughts that could amount to harassment if acted upon.
There is a great gender divide on all things sexual. I have tried to address this by discussing The Man Gene. It’s clear I’m getting nowhere.
Thanks again for your comment.
John
What has happened to dressing in a professional manner and being respectful of yourself and others? Seems to me both of those points have been lost in this situation. “She had it coming or she wouldn’t have dressed that way; they were in a locker room and they’re men, so what do you expect?” Folks, we are not in high school any longer. As “anything goes” becomes more prevalent in our society and people continue to act for the shock value, these situations will only increase. We are professional business people. It is high time we acted like it and treated others and ourselves in a respectful manner.
Joannie,
Thanks very much for contributing these thought-provoking (and I think valid) comments to this discussion.
John