ABSTRACT
In this chapter I want to explore what it would mean to describe sexual harassment as “labor relations by other means”: to attend to the fact that, in the workplace, sexual harassment is not only something usually done to women by men, but that it is always something done to employees, either directly by their bosses, or within the social relations for which bosses are responsible. Recent events have made the discussion of sexual harassment timely. And, in fact, feminism already offers a decade and more of discussion of this issue [1]. I am going to argue here that a feminist framing is necessary but incomplete and that occupational health and safety specialists also have something crucial to contribute to the understanding of sexual harassment as a work life issue. Feminists must think systematically about the workplace context of sexual harassment. The occupational safety community needs to expand its focus from chemical and mechanical hazards in the workplace to include social hazards and the politics of addressing them.
