The workplace is often perceived as a sterile, neutral space. However, given the recent horrific events and the ensuing surge in the discourse of sexual violence, harassment and rape in India, it appears as if a section of the population has been jolted from their complacent slumber. For those of us who constantly engage in reflection in a literary, academic, and/or professional capacity, it becomes almost impossible to prevent thoughts around sexuality, safety, and violation from permeating our very psychosocial existence. The workplace is now getting unmasked as a battleground where power dynamics and sexual politics collide more so than ever before. The body, often relegated to the periphery of organisational discourse that primarily concerns itself with productivity and value, is coming into focus. It is evident that the workplace is not just a site for economic production but also a space where bodies are shaped, controlled, and violated.
The body at work is a complex interplay of forces: appearance, touch and embodiment. How the body shows up physically makes up the appearance – the garb donned, the posture adopted, the presentation of the self that is an attempt (conscious or unconscious) at reflecting professionalism and social status. Touch goes a step further to include the interaction of bodies which shape workplace relationships and power dynamics, the contact between bodies communicating a wide array of messages from warmth and familiarity to dominance and aggression. Embodiment then talks about the lived experience of the body in reference to the appearance of bodies around one’s own, and the touches that are initiated and received – appropriate and not. Thus, the body at work is a presentation that influences interactions, determines social status, and shapes power dynamics (which very much has the sexual at its core).
What do we mean by ‘presentation’ here? To navigate the corporate world constructed by capitalism, one that dichotomises the person as a worker and person as a consumer, and in that process dehumanises and reduces the person to a measurable, predictable unit, the professional body needs to wear a mask devoid of emotionality, complexity and dynamism. What is needed and desired of the individual is solely their capacity to generate output, which the individual does through a carefully curated performance of robotic productivity, the epitome of competence and professionalism. Here, the notion of ‘professionalism’ itself is decontextualised, attempting to artificially separate the sexual self from the individual in their totality. The performance of being an ‘employee’ is characterised by being sex-less, emotion-less, a tireless machine, everything that contradicts being a ‘human’. The patriarchs in power – the upper-class, upper-caste dominants – continue to encourage this separation to strip sexuality of its potency in defining and asserting a sense of self so that it may be converted into an exploitable resource at their disposal to exert power. This suppression of sexuality has been so deeply internalised in our socio-cultural framework that it prevails unquestioned, most individuals surrendering the power over their sexuality while they are ‘clocked-in.’ Sexuality is allowed to present itself in these spaces only when it serves the dominant’s needs or desires borne out of entitlement and thus can only take the form that appeases the dominant. The dominant expresses his desire through harassment, violation, or exploitation. The employed body must then either endure, which may look like passive acceptance and appeasement, or resist, which may lead to severe and/or violent repercussions. The body, as the site of sexuality, of the life essence itself, thus gets disembodied in the workplace. The demand for the “professional self” often comes through a performance that conflicts with the authentic self. An illusionary dichotomy is created here, between the body as a site of desire and the body as a tool for productivity. This raises the question: how safe and self-affirming can a workplace that implicitly demands this separation of the authentic self from its space be?
In the capitalist pursuit of efficiency and control, embodiment gets compromised. In this context, I find myself wondering about how the female body that carries remnants and residues of violation shows up in this space. The spectre of sexual violence is constantly looming large – perhaps it is now more conspicuously visible in the social consciousness in the wake of the “Kolkata doctor rape-murder case”, as the tabloids are calling it. Still, it has been ever-present translucently since before this particular incident and will unfortunately continue to remain present in the Indian female reality, at least for the near future, till our society (and accordingly, the workplace as a microcosm of the society) undergoes a radical paradigm shift. The workplace itself, as in this case, is often the site of the traumatic violation. The person then carries the “scene of the crime” in her body (often to the very real, physical scene of the crime at the workplace) while navigating the demands of professional life for her sustenance. The woman is constantly subjected to heightened scrutiny and vulnerability, either in its objective existence in the workplace or its symbolic existence in omnipresent unconscious fear.
In the face of these unconscious forces that inform the work environment, the female body is subjected to a dualistic gaze: an object of desire and a vessel of vulnerability. This subtle binary positions women as both temptresses and victims in their attempt (if they are able to attempt, that is) to bring narratives of sexuality and/or violation to the workspace, a dichotomy that perpetuates a culture of blame and silence. Women’s entry to the workforce, that the societal narrative would like to garb as a sanctuary of economic independence, becomes an isolating prison of the past for the disembodied, wounded body.
The upsurge of remote work and the gig economy in the post-COVID context has ushered in a new era of workplace dynamics with profound implications for the body at work. While these shifts promise greater flexibility and autonomy, they also introduce novel challenges to the delicate balance between professional and personal spheres. The blurred lines between work and personal life, exacerbated by virtual interactions, create fertile ground for boundary violations. Writing about this brings a recent incident to mind, perhaps illustrating the point better than any third-person prose I could write. It began with a message on my professional social media account. A male stranger expressed interest in booking a psychotherapy session with me. I initially felt a sense of unease, a gut feeling I dismissed as paranoia, perhaps a distrust of men I was projecting onto a harmless message reaching out for help. I provided the necessary information about the booking process. The person then shared that their issue was “private” and would perhaps make me feel “embarrassed”. As my discomfort began intensifying, I decided to wrap up the conversation with a close-ended message about the booking procedure. To this, I got the response of the infamous, unsolicited image of the stranger’s genitals, after which he deactivated his account and disappeared.
The porous lines between our professional and personal lives have created a space where harassment can flourish with impunity. Remote work, while ostensibly protecting the physical body from the immediate threat of physical violence, opens up new avenues for digital assault. The disembodied nature of virtual interactions can create a false sense of security, lulling individuals into complacency that can be exploited by perpetrators. The digital realm, devoid of tangible physical presence, becomes a playground for anonymity and immunity. This transformation of the body in digital spaces necessitates a critical examination of how technology shapes perceptions of sexuality and consent.
Surveillance capitalism, the bedrock of the digital economy, has transformed the body into data points and carefully curated images. The panopticon-like environment where individuals are subjected to unprecedented scrutiny creates hyper-visibility of the digital body that can lead to new forms of control and exploitation. The lines between surveillance, marketing, and harassment are becoming increasingly blurred. The presentation and performance of the self online gets imprinted, now easily accessible to be weaponized for manipulation and exploitation. There are parts of the self – body, thoughts, interactions – that used to be expressions intended for fleeting moments, a privilege to witness for the other, a glimpse into a private realm. These parts are now carved permanently into the digital identity one curates, always retrievable regardless of how well it may be hidden, protected, or attempted to be erased. These digital identities become vulnerable to misuse of their personal data, manifesting as identity theft, stalking or harassment, manipulation, loss of privacy and autonomy, financial harm and mishaps, etc. It is hardly feasible to sustain an absence of a digital self in the current generational climate, yet the fast-paced ‘development’ of technology distances us from conversations and reflections around what this digital presence may do to the body, the psyche, and what ethical engagement must look like. These rapid changes in the work landscape demand a rethinking of traditional notions of power, consent, and accountability.
The workplace is a microcosm of societal power dynamics, where the body is both a tool and a battleground. It is a complex arena where sexuality, hierarchy and vulnerability intersect in ways that are often insidious and deeply harmful. The female body, in particular, becomes a site of both objectification and exploitation, a terrain marked by a constant struggle for agency and respect. As the nature of the workplace, the constitution of the workforce, and the notions of ‘prestigious’ and ‘disreputable’ work evolve, so too must our understanding of the challenges faced by working bodies. To create workplaces that have the capacity to protect and empower, we must first acknowledge the profound impact of these issues and commit to dismantling the systems that perpetuate them. This requires nothing short of a radical re-imagination and reconstruction of work culture, one that holds space for the authentic self, one that prioritises bodily autonomy and expression, consent, inclusion, and fulfilment. Therein lies the potential for transformation of the workplace from a battleground into a sanctuary.
Cover Image: Photo by Ryoji Iwata on Unsplash
