This transformative book examines men’s and women’s changing attitudes toward sex and gender in
the US workplace. Between 1870 and 1970 white-collar office work became the leading form of
employment for American women. As more and more women took office jobs men and women workers
attempted to make sense of this new environment where the workplace became a site of gendered
power negotiations: Emotional and sexual desires entangled with “rational” operating
procedures. Drawing on a wide range of primary sources including government investigation
reports scandal papers memoirs and advice literature Julie Berebitsky describes how women
perceived and responded to male desire and discrimination in the office. She also offers keen
insight into how popular media—cartoons advertisements and a wide array of fictional
accounts—represented wanted and unwelcome romantic and sexual advances in the workplace. Now
in paperback for the first time this compelling edition includes a foreword that brings
Berebitsky’s work into the present where the Trump presidencies #MeToo movement and global
pandemic provide striking illustrations of the book’s enduring relevance. An afterword reflects
on Berebitsky’s lasting impact as a feminist teacher and scholar in the fields of labor
history and women’s studies.
