Sexuality in the Workplace: Where do we stand?
We explore on how to be sexuality positive at our workspace listing out common sceanrios that we observe and the ways to challenge it
We at AWARE India is observing our monthly campaign dedicating the month of January to promote sex positivity in all our working community spaces, we curate daily doses of workspace practices, insights, ideas and policies that can help organizations create a positive work environment for people of diverse sexual identities and orientations.
What Is Sex Positivity?
The core idea of sex positivity is that sex is a normal and healthy part of life! As long as no one is doing anything they don’t want to do, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. The sex-positive movement aims to educate us on sexuality and encourages us to explore our sexuality in a way that’s pleasurable, safe and healthy for everyone involved. AND, you don’t even have to be sexually active to be sex positive!
Sex positivity at workspace is about allowing oneself to enjoy their own freedom of sexual identity and expression without fear of shame or judgment. You’re free to be you, and I’m free to be me!
So how we can promote positive sexuality attitudes at our workspace?
Sex Positive Attitude #1: Consent
Consent is one of the foundational concepts that embodies sex positivity. The most important thing to remember when it comes to consent is to always:
Set, Communicate and Respect your and others’ boundaries in professional setting
Strive for clear, truthful, and open communication with everyone at and beyond work
Consent received through power or by coercion, intimidation, or while the other person has reduced capacity, is not consent at all!
Sex Positive Attitude #2: Women & Feminism
Sarah is part of a sales team. Her male colleagues frequently make jokes about "women drivers" and make comments on her dress and appearance. During a team meeting, she presents a new sales strategy, but her ideas are dismissed and interrupted. But her male colleague was giving out comment how she could have dressed up even better. Frustrated, Sarah eventually works up the courage to raise the issue of the comments. Her team leader doesn’t see the issue and suggests she should take it all “as a compliment”.
Although not uncommon, this type of mentality is a sex negative one. The idea that a woman needs to dress or act a certain way to gain the respect of her peers continues the oppression and sexual violence that women face in society.
Sex positive feminism centers around these ideas:
A woman’s body belongs to no one else but her.
Whether a woman wants to cover up or show a lot of skin, how she chooses to dress does not define her and she is worthy of respect.
Her decisions regarding her sexuality and sexual expression are hers and hers alone, this does not have any effect on the content of her character at her workspace.
Sex Positive Attitude #3: LGBTQIA+
Consider that you are running a skydiving training institute. A male customer may express that they feel uncomfortable being strapped to a gay man while skydiving, but does that mean that the business is able to fire that instructor to prevent further complaints?
LGBTQIA+ individuals often face more discrimination in the workplace, are less likely to be hired for jobs or given promotions, are paid less, and are more likely to be fired than their heterosexual counterparts.
This type of discrimination is wrong, depending on where you live, it could also be illegal!
It is important to respect and celebrate the diversity of all sexual orientations and gender expressions.
A truly sex positive attitude embraces these differences and understands that no matter a person’s sexual preferences, they are also worthy of respect.
Take Action
These are just a few of the basic concepts that you can use as building blocks to develop your own internal sex positive framework. Sex positivity is an ongoing process. It may take some time for you to unlearn sex negative ideas you may have been taught, and to re-learn healthy sex positive ones!
Take some time to reflect on some examples of sex negativity you’ve experienced in your own life. How has sex negativity impacted you, and what are some small changes you can make in your life to make it more sex positive?
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