Subjected to Harassment: Deconstructing Power in an Encounter With Workplace Sexual Harassment

Erynn E. Beaton and Maham Ali

Gender, Work and Organization, 2025, vol. 32, issue 5, 1797-1811

Abstract: There is a consensus that power is central to sexual harassment. Research has focused most heavily on the bases of power upon which harassment is perpetrated. However, a feminist poststructural view locates power everywhere, suggesting that people encountering sexual harassment also have power. This study focuses on an encounter with sexual harassment experienced by a woman, whom we name Beth, while working for the government. We use deconstruction to understand how power manifests in Beth's narrative of sexual harassment by a congressman. Our deconstruction uncovers the complex manifestations of power in encounters with sexual harassment. We follow our deconstruction with a reconstruction, a fictional restory that demonstrates how power dynamics could ideally shift. Our findings shed light on the many ways in which power operates and highlight the ineffectiveness of current best practices around workplace sexual harassment.

Date: 2025
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