Law And The Construction Of Institutionalized Sexual Harassment In Restaurants

Women, Sexual Harassment and the Law

I. Introduction The purpose of this paper is to investigate two journals articles, “Law and the Construction of Institutionalized Sexual Harassment in Restaurants” by Matulewicz and “Law's Expressive Value in Com batting Cyber Gender Harassment” by Danielle Citron in order to understand how each connects the main thesis to the various sub-claims. Citron's paper focuses on the online harassment of women, arguing that, despite the fact that the public and law enforcement might not view it as serious, online harassment can have serious impacts on the lives of women. Online harassment is more than an inconvenience and can lead to physical threats, women avoiding using the internet, and even the promotion

Analysis of Arguments

A. Citron Citron's main argument is that online harassment is harmful to women. From this starting point, the author goes on to provide a number of examples of how this is so, with her main conclusion being that online harassment contributes to the internet being patriarchal and male dominated despite the fact that the public and law enforcement still mainly view it as a level playing field. Citron's first task is to to make clear the severity of online harassment. This includes comments stating that a given woman should be raped, insults made about appearances, and even the shutdown of feminist blogs and websites. It is the wild west in a sense, and the Wild West was not a time associated with women's rights or equality. Online sexual harassment is about more than the generation of negative emotions, though that should be enough to decry it. The internet is an ingrained part of modern commerce and if women are discouraged from writing online this can harm their career opportunities. Harassment is almost always directed towards women and has the effect of creating the same gender inequality that exists in the rest of

The fact that servers depend on customers for tips puts them in a precarious position because their income can be reduced if they resist harassing conduct in any way. The fact that such behavior might be considered normal does not make it acceptable in any way. Matulewicz describes the relationship between servers and customers as quid pro quo, meaning there is an implied understanding that if male customers get what they want, to be inappropriate with female servers, then the servers will get what they need, that being income. The law further exacerbates the harassment that occurs in restaurants because employment standards law is not as effective as labour law in general. Restaurant workers are in a difficult situation because they are not guaranteed hours and may see their hours reduced, or given less lucrative shifts, if they do not engage in behavior that appeals to certain male customers. In the long term, this can lead to problems because restaurant jobs are often a first job for women and can negatively impact their expectations of acceptable behavior as they move into other areas of