Sex in the Workplace on TV

New study: "Touchy Subjects: Sex in the Workplace on Broadcast, Cable, and Internet Television.

Workplace sexual harassment is a serious issue in the United States and globally. Attitudes towards sexual harassment may be shaped by the portrayal of sexual behavior in the workplace on television.

In a study recently published in Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, Professor Laramie Taylor and collaborators Cassie Alexopoulos and Jannath Ghaznavi (PhD, 2016) analyzed 100 television shows set in the workplace. They found that sexual talk and behavior were common in television workplaces, especially sexual joking and spreading sexual rumors. This sexual talk and behavior was almost never met with any kind of negative consequence or labeled as sexual harassment. Interestingly, women supervisors were depicted as engaging in as much or more sexual harassing behavior compared to their male counterparts. The real concern is that viewers of such television programs may come to see workplace sexual harassment as normal or inevitable. 

Find the study for download here