John Buell

Sexual Exploitation and Corporate Power

Much attention has properly been paid to sexual exploitation within the workplace, especially the acts of powerful and prominent media and political figures. In many cases the men were accused of committing multiple acts over many years. Exposing the depth and breadth of this exploitation is an important step toward addressing this injustice. Nonetheless, sexual exploitation occurs within the context of a highly inegalitarian society. Race, class, and gender roles shape and will be shaped by the discourse and policies that emerge.

That many women did not come forward at the time of the alleged incidents is no indication that their stories were concocted. Advocates point out that the sheer disparity in power between the alleged perpetrator and victim made reporting abuse extremely risky. That argument seems hard to refute, but the conclusions drawn from it are unnecessarily limited.

It certainly makes sense to sanction severely assault and harassment within the workplace, but at least equally important is the power imbalance. In almost all of the discussions I have heard this power imbalance is treated as though it is an immutable fact of nature. Something is off if a woman who complained about a life-threatening production line can be fired “at will,” while being protected against arbitrary dismissal for complaining about a hostile work environment created by misogynist comments.

Workplaces can be and have been structured in such a way that front line workers have substantial procedural protections against being fired for either reason.(Those procedural protections should also extend to the accused.) Even more radical are the high performance workplaces where workers evaluate and choose superiors. I am not claiming that more egalitarian workplaces eliminate sexual harassment, but they would make remedies more viable. Just as images of prototypical masculinity shape what it is to be a boss in the modern workplace, images of the boss help shape feelings and practices of masculinity.

More broadly, a society that guaranteed a living wage job to every citizen would be one in which workers would have less fear of being fired for bringing up complaints regarding sexual exploitation. Workplaces that tolerated sexual exploitation of entry- level workers would have a hard time attracting them.

In this context, the reluctance to bring class into this discussion hides the less spectacular but nonetheless serious workplace exploitation experienced by many women on a daily basis. Jane Mayer pointed out in a recent Fresh Air program on NPR that none of the highly-publicized incidents involved working-class women. Their voices were still silent.

One bright spot that stands in partial contradiction to Mayer is the Fair Food campaign by agricultural workers. That campaign treats sexual assault as one aspect of workplace exploitation and seeks to broaden workers’ rights to fair wages and protection against arbitrary dismissal. Nonetheless, this campaign receives far less attention than the complaints of the more established stars.

The organization of day- to- day work can itself inflict traumatic stress. Consider this employee’s experience: “Being a Walmart worker means being expected to put up with poverty pay, inflexible schedules, and disrespect from bosses. … working at Walmart often means being punished when we need to be there for our families. I wasn’t allowed to leave work to be with my mom when she died, and I know of other Walmart workers who can tell similar stories.”

She also points out: “Even though most Walmart associates are women, most senior execs are men. They won’t reveal if they pay men more than women, but a study in 2003 found that the average Walmart man makes $5,200 more than the average Walmart woman. No wonder there have been over 2,000 claims filed at Walmart alleging bias in pay and promotions.” (It would be interesting to learn whether women executives or stockholders in such corporate giants have tried to reform these practices.)

Despite the preferential pay, working at companies like Walmart or Amazon is no picnic for working class men. Consider this reporter’s experience.

“Timed toilet breaks, impossible targets and workers falling asleep on feet: Brutal life working in Amazon warehouse” [The Mirror]. “There were complaints of filthy toilets and breaks still too short. One asked: ‘Why are we not allowed to sit when it is quiet and not busy? We are human beings, not slaves and animals.”(In fact we treat our pets more kindly.)

Much of Amazon’s and Walmart’s success has depended on old- fashioned workplace speed up and blatant violation of labor standards. Unfortunately, there is evidence that some workers subject to such regimes are more likely to become “authoritarian personalities” and exploiters in their own right. This repellant dynamic has been enabled by slack in the labor market and lax government regulators and regulations.

When men practice or tolerate workplace sexual harassment, they make cross gender coalitions less likely. Men have a stake in ending the divisive sexual exploitation blocking the pathway to a more humane workplace.

John Buell lives in Southwest Harbor, Maine, and writes regularly on labor and environmental issues. Email jbuell@acadia.net.

From The Progressive Populist, April 15, 2018

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