2004/10/18 by Kari Lerum
Social Sciences · #Gender Diversity and Inequality #Gender, Feminism, and Media #Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies
paper · doi:10.1177/0891243204269398
openalex publication_date 2004/10/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25
Many have argued that sexualized banter is indicative of “masculine” culture, serving as a mechanism by which men construct masculine identity and dominance and create a climate of sexual harassment. While this claim has much empirical support, sexualized banter among women remains undertheorized. Furthermore, many contemporary scholars agree that the meaning of a sexual exchange may vary widely between cultural and material contexts, but this insight has only recently been applied to studies of workplace sexuality. This article considers the issues of gender, sexuality, power, and context in light of ethnographic data collected in two service work (waitressing) establishments. Within these organizations, many workplace sexualized interactions emerge as facilitating camaraderie and empowerment between workers. The article concludes that the sexual particularities of a workplace should be interpreted as one of its many cultural features, reflective more of its organizational conditions than of a static sexual symbolism.