A significant number of women who experience sexual conduct in the workplace do not define it as sexual harassment. This has caused a discrepancy between social science measures of sexual harassment and women’s perceptions and experiences. As a consequence, studies have begun to examine how workers distinguish between wanted and unwanted sexual behavior. Through in-depth interviews and ethnographic fieldwork with women who work in the building trades, this study examines how tradeswomen interpret and respond to the sexual conduct of their coworkers. Using a micro-politics of trouble framework, the author shows how interpretations of sexual conduct are shaped up exactly in the process of responding to problematic interactions. The analysis finds that many initial responses to unwanted sexual conduct attempt to restore good relations between coworkers. However, if the sexual conduct is considered extreme or if initial attempts to resolve the trouble are unsuccessful, the actions may be reinterpreted and responded to informally as actions that “cross the line” even as tradeswomen face constraints in exercising formal punitive measures.
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