Sex and the Office: A History of Gender, Power, and Desire

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.

Julie Berebitsky (1962-2023) was professor of history and founding director of the women’s and gender studies program at Sewanee: The University of the South.