The film North Country (2005) features countless instances of sexual harassment that can occur within the workplace, accurately demonstrating the nature of sexual harassment to be about power rather than sex. This reflects much of what the Supreme Court of Canada discusses in relation to the Janzen v. Platy Enterprises case.
Within the Janzen case documents, it states that workplace sexual harassment is an abuse of “economic and sexual power” (1284). This point on power is important as often occurrences of sexual harassment committed against women by men are really about gaining/regaining power rather than about sex. This can be seen in the film as the men at the mine are beginning to feel threatened when more women begin taking jobs that have been traditionally held by men. This threat can also be seen in Josie’s father’s initial reaction to her taking a job at the mine, and he responds, “you wanna be a lesbian now?” This demonstrates a patriarchal anxiety with women gaining equal power to men and that they are beginning to break free from their traditional domesticated roles.…show more content… These acts are not only a reaction to women gaining more power in the workforce but also a demand for women to stay in their tradition subordinate roles. As a result, this “leads to adverse job-related consequences for the victims of the harassment” (1253), which we can see when Josie has had enough and decides to