Sex and the Office: A History of Gender, Power, and Desire

by Julie Berebitsky

In this engaging book—the first to historicize our understanding of sexual harassment in the workplace—Julie Berebitsky explores how Americans’ attitudes toward sexuality and gender in the office have changed since the 1860s, when women first took jobs as clerks in the U.S. Treasury office.

Berebitsky recounts the actual experiences of female and male office workers; draws on archival sources ranging from the records of investigators looking for waste in government offices during World War II to the personal papers of Cosmopolitan editor Helen Gurley Brown and Ms. magazine founder Gloria Steinem; and explores how popular sources—including cartoons, advertisements, advice guides, and a wide array of fictional accounts—have represented wanted and unwelcome romantic and sexual advances. This range of evidence and the study’s long scope expose both notable transformations and startling continuities in the interplay of gender, power and desire at work.

Genres: History, Feminism, Nonfiction, Sexuality

376 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Emmkay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent academic study of how Americans have understood and dealt with what is today generally termed 'sexual harassment' in the white-collar office, from the entry of women clerical workers in the late 19th century to the present. Berebitsky draws on a wide variety of sources, including advice columns, films, novels, cartoons, legal cases, and news coverage. Fascinating and valuable.

[Fiona Montgomery]

I think it was ambitious for this author to go down this route of research. But I just wasn’t engaged with the stories, analyses, and sources connected to the ideas.

I was likewise hoping this would be a history of sex in those of historical figures in history (i.e- Anthony and Cleopatra, monks, Genghis Khan).

I don’t think I would get this again from the library due to the focus of this subject matter on the 20th and 21 centuries.