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It is real. Every case is not the same, however. I think the point Merc made about it not being harrassment until the woman says she feels she is being harrassed actually has a lot of merit. There are I think may instances where women have perceived men to be harrassing them and the man has intended no such thing. If the woman comments on feeling uncomfortable and the man persists then he is wilfully engaging in behaviour that makes a woman feel harrassed.
That said there are plenty of cases of men using greater rank or seniority as a lever with female coworkers and subordinates. I remember working at a clothes shop when I was in my early twenties and the guy who ran the clothes shop was a complete twat. He particularly picked on the younger, saturday workers and new school leavers. He used to encourage 'his girls' to wear new lines of clothing in store to show them off. I caught him once, stood on the stairs, using a mirror to spy on this 16 year old whilst she was changing in the staff area. Another girl, 17, he frightened the shit out of having had her work late stocktaking, by giving her a lift home and stopping on a country lane to try his luck.
That's a fairly extreme case, but I know of plenty of genuine cases of women being subjected to highly intimidating behaviour, or alternatively being subjected to a complete and devastating character assassination, or constructive dismissal for the heinous crime of not fancying/sleeping with/accepting unpleasant advances from their boss.
I think the idea that this is just men continuing their age old strategies of contest within work relationships has some resonance. I also think that men (like women) are more in control of their baser instincts than the article credits them with being.
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