#MeToo is about Work & Power

Rachel Arnow-Richman (Denver) has an important op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle, #MeToo: Why we must separate sex from sexual harassment. Here is a taste:

... The #MeToo movement is no longer about work. What started as a watershed moment in public awareness of workplace sexual harassment has converged with the long-standing debate over the line between consensual and nonconsensual sex. Some would say this is a good thing. We should condemn all forms of unwelcome sexual behavior regardless of where they happen. The power dynamics that embolden a young celebrity to take advantage of his date share something with those that permit a Hollywood mogul to force himself on his employees. But we risk losing something in the mix — the opportunity to transform the workplace and achieve greater employment equality for women. It’s time to regroup. 

I agree with Rachel's argument that sexual harassment is not about sex but rather about work and power and maintaining economic and professional hierarchies. I wrote a related piece a while back. This makes the current debates about what is acceptable and not acceptable in the workplace difficult. Another favorite article, pre-#MeToo that speaks to this, which I quote regularly is Vicki Schultz's The Sanitized Workplace. This is a key moment for employment discrimination scholars to contribute to the more popular debate and offer, like Rachel does, a critical broader perspective about what we need to be doing to reform our work lives.