a promotion or merely keeping a job" (Rapoport & Zevnik, 1989, p. 72). Nevertheless, the majority of sexual harassment cases are more subtle in nature. Most involve unwanted sexual comments or jokes. In some cases, male supervisors will intimidate female employees with unwanted touching or displays of pornography. All of these examples of sexual harassment have a negative effect on women employees. In particular, they all have the effect of "disempowering women" (Gibbs, 1991, p. 54). This disempowerment makes it impossible for women to rise up to the higher positions of wealth and power in most organizations.
There have been a number of examples of sexual harassment in business in recent years. For example, reports have indicated an increase in sexual harassment among executives in the music recording industry. One highly publicized case involved Marko J. Babineau, the former general manager of the DGC Label. Babineau's former secretary, Penny Muck, claimed that he had harassed her by forcing her to watch him masturbate (Becklund & Philips, 1991, p. A18). Another publicized event indicated that sexual harassment exists in the educational system as well. In this case, Linda Frost sued her former boss, the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, Charles S. Terrell. Frost alleged that Terrell had made obscene telephone calls to her home (Feldman, 1991, p. A3).
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