Girl Watching Summary

The article, “Sexual Harassment and Masculinity the Power and Meaning of ‘Girl Watching’” by Quinn, (2002) shows that the behaviors seen by men and women are differently interpreted in the workplace. In the study conducted, men considered watching girls as an act that achieves and protects their own masculinity. Girl watching is commonly done to bond with other males and to create or maintain their masculinity. Women are threatened and less powerful when they are targets of sexual harassment and remain an object to these men who are watching them. When initially the research asked men about sexual harassment in the office they did not think that this behavior took place. When men were asked a reversed question in fact sexual harassment was being participated among men in the workplace against women. Information that some men said they would do if the roles were flipped then implied that sexual harassment was being behaved. A man mentioned that they would avoid certain situations, dress differently, and behave in ways that eliminate the chance for others to watch them and objective them. With this understanding the term used of watching girls is not a playful social behavior, but a harmful gendered act that is turning people into objects.
Finding the different effects that the act of girl watching implies, that social normative or behaves create a cycle that divides personal empowerment. Men use “girl watching” as a gendered norm to attain masculinity or create a playful bond between each other. So if a woman entered a room they would reach out to other men so that they could have the opportunity to look at the woman as if they are objects. If a woman was to complain about this behavior, she is then perceived as a subject and in turn the men would then have a consequence of being flustered by embarrassment for being