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Sexual Harassment In Donna Ned's The Office

Decent Essays

Sexual harassment continues to be a substantial problem within the workplace and around the world. Donna Benson, an American author, writes in “Sexual Harassment on a University
Campus: The Confluence of Authority Relations, Sexual Interest and Gender Stratification” that “Female workers have always been vulnerable to sexual abuse by male employees… In non-random surveys as many as 70 percent of respondents report harassment on the job” (236). This is an unfortunate statistic, and through comedy, the television series The Office (U.S.), created by NBC, and directed by Benjamin Novak reveals the reality of this unfortunate statistic and how inappropriate harassment is. The Office (U.S.) is a comedy based around Dunder Mifflin Paper company’s Scranton branch manager, Michael Scott. Michael is a comedic and belligerent character who is unaware of his socially distasteful humor, which shows the audience how unacceptable sexual harassment is. Through the use of comedy, the producers of The Office reveal to its audience how sexual harassment is unacceptable. In the episode titled, “Sexual Harassment” in season two of The Office (U.S.), Michael Scott negatively depicts males due to his inappropriate sexual harassment. In addition, the way his female employees react to his harassment parallels with another woman's strategy to combat sexual harassment. Lastly, the producers used comedy to bring awareness to one of the problems that particular society is dealing with, which

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