by Vicki Schultz

About the author: Vicki Schultz is a professor at Yale Law School who specializes in employment discrimination law, civil procedure, feminism and law, and gender and work.

The Clarence Thomas hearings, the Tailhook incident, the Gene McKinney trial, the Clinton scandals—if these events spring to mind when you hear the words “sexual harassment,” you are not alone. That such images of powerful men making sexual come-ons toward female subordinates should be the defining ones simply proves the power of the popular perception that harassment is first and foremost about sex. It’s easy to see why: The media, the courts and some feminists have emphasized this to the exclusion of all else. But the real issue isn’t sex, it’s sexism on the job. The fact...