Sexual harassment: a victim's inaction mistaken for acquiescence in The Boys Club (2020)
This chapter analyzes another aspect of law that favors the perpetrator. It traces sexual harassment legislation and court cases to demonstrate that the law most often does not protect victims. Instead, it unjustly relies on and relinquishes power to a corporation's ineffective anti-harassment...
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| Format: | Print Article |
| Language: | English |
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2025
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| In: |
Law, literature, and violence against women
Year: 2025, Pages: 85-106 |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Summary: | This chapter analyzes another aspect of law that favors the perpetrator. It traces sexual harassment legislation and court cases to demonstrate that the law most often does not protect victims. Instead, it unjustly relies on and relinquishes power to a corporation's ineffective anti-harassment policy. This chapter also studies Erica Katz's The Boys Club (2020) to exemplify toxic masculinity in the workplace culture. In the novel, these cultural constructs perpetuate different forms of sexual harassment from older, more experienced men who supervise younger women. Their pernicious behavior ranges from inappropriate jokes and comments to “consensual” affairs with an abuse of power, to nonconsensual sexual harassment and, ultimately, to attempted rape. With these and other examples from The Boys Club, this chapter contends that adult grooming, a victim's freeze response, and the long-term effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are factors that are often mistaken for a victim's permission or consent. Through this process, sexual harassers and predators take advantage of social, organizational, and legal systems that fail to protect victims. |
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| ISBN: | 9781032301389 |
