Alliance Against Sexual Coercion

The Alliance Against Sexual Coercion (AASC), established in June 1976 by Freada Kapor Klein, Lynn Wehrli, and Elizabeth Cohn-Stuntz, was among the first in the US to organise against severe sexual coercion and sexual harassment faced by working women.[1][2] They argued that sexual harassment toward women increases difficulties for women in the workplace by reinforcing the idea or stereotype that women are inferior to men. Black women, subjected to both racism and sexism, are a major focus of AASC.[3]

History/Objectives

The Alliance Against Sexual Coercion organization was founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[4] Founders Klein, Wehrli, and Cohn-Stuntz had experience dealing with sexual harassment claims due to their work at a rape crisis center and established an intersectional approach for the organization.[5] Their concerns centered around sexual harassment, which had been a part of women's working life documented from the 1900s onward, and the fact that some women working unions' organizers did not take action to solve the sexual harassment but instead blamed the victims.[5]

Mary Anderson, the first director of the United States Women's Bureau the Department of Labor, described in her autobiography how women carried knives to protect themselves from foremen, and a strike leading to the firing of the foremen and an increase in women's wages.[6]

AASC hotline

Meyer and Sauvigne, friends of activist Lin Farley, combined their efforts in summer of 1978 to create a National Information and Referral Service with the help of a $6,500 grant from the city of New York. These women had experience working on the issue of rape at the Washington, D.C. Rape Crisis Center, and brought the issue of sexual harassment in work environments to light there. The hotline provided emotional support and advice regarding situations of sexual harassment, as well as granting referrals to attorneys and crisis counselors for those who called contributed to its supportive design. The hotline revealed the many phone calls from women who were experiencing severe sexual coercion in their jobs, aiding in the creation of AASC. As an organization determined to eliminate sexual harassment in the workplace, it was established that the hotline was not enough to address the needs of these women. Although supportive, listening to stories was not sufficient to achieve the change AASC aimed for. The organization began considering options for addressing sexual harassment within the workplace via the legal system.[6]

Freada Klein and Lynn Wehrli released a publication analyzing how the increasing accounts of sexual coercion on the job is indicative of legal reform. They add that to contribute to the women's feminist movement and legal reform, raising awareness and providing adequate attention to the societal issues needing said legal reform such as sexual harassment is necessary. The legal definitions of rape not including or providing other definitions of more subtle forms of sexual harassment sets the tone that one can sexually harass another with no consequence.

The AASC proposed several options for taking action against sexual harassment that women experience at the workplace, including laws to protect women in the workplace and punish the perpetrators who have gotten away with these acts. The group acknowledged in their publications the ways in which legal cases would be limiting if an intersectional approach was not taken, looking at the ways in which race, class, and socio-economic status overlap in sexual harassment instances. This approach also implies that black and brown men are more likely to be accused and convicted than their white, more privileged counterparts.[7] The AASC intersectional approach focused on changing male opinions on inequality in the workplace instead of making women change the ways in which they live their lives. There were two significant sexual harassment in the workplace cases which made their way to the Federal Courts: Corne v. Bausch & Lomb, Inc. and Williams v. Saxbe.

Corne v. Bausch & Lomb, Inc. case

On March 14, 1975 Jane Corne, Geneva Devane, and other plaintiffs filed this case in U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona against the Bausch & Lomb Company. The complaint alleged the violation of civil rights based on sex discrimination.[8] The case was dismissed. The judge ruled that the accusers failed to exhaust their potential remedies through other state channels before filing the lawsuit, failed to file the case in a timely manner, and that the suit failed "to state a claim for relief for violation of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act" while the actions of the supervisor were regarded as a matter of "a personal proclivity, peculiarity or mannerism. By his alleged sexual advances, Mr. Price was satisfying a personal urge" with no company policy involved.[7][8]

Williams v. Saxbe case

Williams v. Saxbe was the first case to validate the harassment of women under gender discrimination. Judge Charles R. Richey's ruling held that the Civil Rights Act shields employees from retaliation for refusing their superior's sexual propositions, a change to the legal perspectives on workplace sexual harassment.

Publications

Members of the AASC published materials spreading awareness about the issue of sexual harassment and sharing their own theoretical analyses on the issue. Their publications created a community of women who stood against sexual harassment and were educated about its history, context within social structures, and relation to the law.[6]

First position paper

In October 1976, founders Klein and Wehrli published the AASC's first position paper. This piece pioneered the linking of sexual coercion to economic power by highlighting a number of examples proving the gendered disadvantage women face in the workforce from employers and co-workers alike.[6] Important points constructed in the paper include the parallels between rape and sexual harassment, positioning of the issue of sexual coercion in feminist activism, and the lack of legal protection for women workers.[9][10]

1977 brochure

After obtaining a grant from Wellesley College's Center for Research on Women in Higher Education and the Professions, members Rags Brophy, Mary Bularzik, Martha Hooven, Freada Klein, Liz Cohn-Stuntz, and Lynn Wehrli collectively created the organization's first informational brochure on sexual harassment. This 23-page brochure was sent out in informational packets that included flyers advertising the AASC, templates on how to address harassers, and their first Position Paper.[6] Grounded in the argument that "sexual harassment was a form of violence against women that reflected and reinforced women's subordinate status in society", one of the two main components of the publication was advice for women facing harassment in and out of the workplace.[7] The publication raised awareness of sexual harassment by educating readers about aspects of the issue, including its history in the U.S. and the enduring impacts on economically vulnerable women. In addition to providing such guidelines and information, the publication also served as a platform to share the organization's criticism on U.S. capitalism which they viewed to be responsible for producing a racist and sexist society.[7]

Intersectionality

Critique of capitalism

Through their writing, AASC members frequently demonstrated their views of sexual harassment in the context of "a system of related oppressions" by highlighting the role of capitalism in the continued disadvantages of women.[6] In one article titled "The Role of Capitalism: Understanding Sexual Harassment", members Martha Hooven and Nancy McDonald provided a detailed introduction to this relationship. Along with definitions for both sexual harassment and capitalism, Hooven and McDonald included data collected by the U.S. Department of Labor to prove the existence of a double standard that disadvantages women workers. Going further, Hooven and McDonald stated that "capitalism feeds quite nicely on sexism and racism" when overviewing the additional challenges for minority workers. In the final words of their article, Hooven and McDonald concluded on a question centered by the AASC as whole: can an issue like sexual harassment truly be resolved without abolishing capitalism?.[11]

References
  1. Alba, Davey. "A Year After the Ellen Pao Verdict, Tech Still Gets Diversity Wrong". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved February 7, 2022.
  2. Kuchler, Hannah (September 3, 2018). "Freada Kapor Klein: Silicon Valley's diversity activist". Financial Times. Retrieved February 7, 2022.
  3. Baker, Carrie N. "Race, Class, and Sexual Harassment in the 1970s". Smith College. Study of Women and Gender: Faculty Publications.
  4. Baker, Carrie N (2007). "The Emergence of Organized Feminist Resistance to Sexual Harassment in the United States in the 1970s". Journal of Women's History. 19 (3): 161–184. doi:10.1353/jowh.2007.0051. ISSN 1527-2036. S2CID 144125346.
  5. Onion, Rebecca (November 20, 2017). "We've Got the '70s-Style Rage. Now We Need the '70s-Style Feminist Social Analysis". Slate. Retrieved February 7, 2022.
  6. Baker, Carrie N. (December 3, 2007). The Women's Movement against Sexual Harassment. Cambridge University Press. pp. 40–45. doi:10.1017/9780511840067. ISBN 978-0-521-87935-4.
  7. "Document 10: Alliance Against Sexual Coercion, Sexual Harassment at the Workplace, 1977 | Alexander Street Documents". documents.alexanderstreet.com. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  8. "Corne v. Bausch and Lomb, Inc., 390 F. Supp. 161 (D. Ariz. 1975)". Justia Law. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  9. Document 8: Freada Klein and Lynn Wehrli, "Sexual Coercion on the Job?" Sister Courage, October 1976, p. 6, by Freada Klein and Lynn Wehrli. Included in How Did Diverse Activists in the Second Wave of the Women's Movement Shape Emerging Public Policy on Sexual Harassment?, by Carrie N. Baker. (Binghamton, NY: State University of New York at Binghamton, 2005).
  10. "Document 9: Lynn Wehrli, "Sexual Harassment at the Workplace: A Feminist Analysis and Strategy for Social Chan... | Alexander Street Documents". documents.alexanderstreet.com. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  11. Hooven, Martha and Nancy McDonald. 1978. “The Role of Capitalism: Understanding Sexual Harassment.” Aegis, 31–33. Retrieved (https://documents.alexanderstreet.com/d/1000687703). Included in How Did Diverse Activists in the Second Wave of the Women's Movement Shape Emerging Public Policy on Sexual Harassment?, by Carrie N. Baker. (Binghamton, NY: State University of New York at Binghamton, 2005).
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