MEMORANDUM OF DECISION AND ORDER
This mаtter is before this court upon its request for further briefing from the parties concerning the court’s previous ruling, dated September 8, 1997, granting Defendants, State of Indiana (“State”) and Indiana Department of Transportation’s (“INDOT”) (collectively, the “defendants”) Motion to Dismiss plaintiffs Title VII sexual harassment claims. In that Order, the court determined that because both plaintiffs were alleging sexual harassment by the same supervisor, they both, as a matter of law, could not prove that the alleged harassment occurred “because of sex.” Plaintiffs, Karen and Steven Holman (collectively, “plaintiffs” or “the Hol-mans”), filed a motion to reconsider this court’s Order on the basis of
Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc.,
— U.S. -,
APPLICABLE STANDARD
The court begins by noting that “motions to reconsider are not ill-founded step-children of the federal court’s procedural arsenal, but rather effective yet quite circumscribed methods of ‘eorrect[ing] manifest errors of law or fact or to present newly discovered evidence.’ ”
In re August, 1993 Regular Grand Jury,
A motion to dismiss challenges the sufficiency of the plaintiffs complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). A motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim should be grantеd only if the plaintiffs could prove no set of facts, consistent with their complaint and attachments, upon which the defendants could be liable.
Pickrel v. City of Springfield, Ill.,
“When a federal court reviews the sufficiency of a complaint ... its task is necessarily a limited one. The issue is not whether a plaintiff will ultimately prevail but whether the claimant is entitled to offer evidence to support the claims.”
Scheuer v. Rhodes,
APPLICABLE FACTS
Plaintiffs instituted the present action alleging violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e and the Equal Pay Act, 29 U.S.C. § 206 arising out of their employment relationship with the defendants. The Holmans are husband and wife and, at all times relevant to their complaint, were employed by the defendants as maintenance workers. (Complaint, ¶¶ s 4(a), 6(a)). Both plaintiffs reported to Gale Uh-rich (“Uhrich”), a male shop foreman. (Complaint, ¶¶ s 4(a), 6(b)). Plaintiff, Karen Holman, alleges that Uhrich sexually harassed her by “touching her body, stаnding too closely to her, asking her to go to bed with him and making sexist comments and otherwise making Plaintiff work in a sexually hostile work environment.” (Complaint, ¶ 4(b)). • In addition, she contends that as a result of her refusal to perform the acts requested by Uhrich, he negatively altered her evaluations and otherwise retaliated against her for protesting his harassing behavior. (Complaint, ¶ 4(e)). Karen Holman also asserts a claim that she has been denied equal pay for equal work. (Complaint, ¶ 4(d)).
In the same complaint, Plaintiff, Steven Holman, alleges that Uhrich also sexually harassed him by “grabbing his head while asking for sexual favors.” (Complaint, ¶ 6(b)). When Steven Holman refused such requests, he alleges that Uhrich retaliated by unlocking his locker and throwing away his belongings. (Complaint, ¶ 6(c)). In addition, Steven Holman claims that he suffered retaliation from Uhrich due to his wife’s filing internal discrimination charges against Uh-rich. (Complaint, ¶ 6(c)).
DISCUSSION
I. Previous Order on Motion to Dismiss
In the court’s initial ruling on defendants motion to dismiss, the court resolved the unique issue of whether
both
the Holmans, as a matter of law, could maintain sexual harassment claims where they both suffered harassment of a sexual nature by the same individual. First, the court noted that the gravamen of any sexual harassment claim is that the plaintiff suffered discrimination “because of sex.” Considering the facts as alleged in the instant case, the court determined that because the acts of the alleged harasser in this case were equally harassing to both plaintiffs, neither could prove that the alleged harassment occurred “because of sex.” In support of this conclusion, the court cited
Pasqua v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co.,
II. Reconsideration of Original Order
From the outset, the court is reminded that a motion to dismiss tests the legal sufficiency of the complaint and does not decide the claims on the merits.
Triad
Assoc.,
Inc. v. Chicago Housing Auth.,
An employee asserting a cláim of hostile work environment sexual harassment must prove the following: (1) the employee belongs to a protected group; (2) the employee was subjected to unwelcome sexual harassment in the form of sexual advances or requests for sexual favors; (3) the harassment was based on sex; (4) the harassment affected a term, condition, or privilege of employment; and (5) the harassment was sufficiently severe and pervasive to alter the conditions of the victim’s employment and crеate an abusive working environment.
Meritor Savings Bank, FSB v. Vinson,
The “based on sex” element has increasingly been placed under fire in the context of same-sex sexual harassment and equal opportunity harassment claims. The Supreme Court recently reaffirmed the principle that Title VII sexual harassment claim is directed only at “discrimination ... because of ... sex” in
Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc.,
The saga of the “equal opportunity harasser” has sparked numerous debates among scholars and courts concerning the viability of sexual harassment claims where the conduct. is sprеad evenly between both genders. 1 Based, in part, upon the theory that equal harassment is not gender discrimination as required for Title VII liability, sexual harassment defendants often invoke the bisexual harasser defense and the equal opportunity harasser defense to avoid liability for their offensive conduct. 2 These defenses succeed because the “equal opportunity harasser” does not treat plaintiffs differently than members of the opposite sex; indeed, by definition the harasser equally harasses both sexes. Thus, under current sex discrimination theories, there is no discrimination when something happens to both sexes and not simply to one.
Perhaps the Supreme Court’s recent decision in
Oncale
is an appropriate starting point for the court’s analysis in the present case.
Oncale
clearly articulates that “Title VII’s prohibition of discrimination ‘because of
*913
sex’ protects men as well as women.”
Oncale,
523 U.S. at -,
Under the Supreme Court’s analysis, presumably, if members of one sex are exposed to identical disadvantageous terms or conditions of employment as the other sex, there is no Title VII discrimination. Such a reading gives legitimacy to the various courts’ findings that no liability exists where both males and females in the workplace are accorded like treatment.
See Pasqua v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co.,
Without question, thesе authorities give rise, in the present case, to defendants argument that, as a matter of law, it is impossible for the Holmans to demonstrate that one of them was exposed to disadvantageous terms or conditions of employment to which the other was not since they both allege equal harassment. As evidenced by
Oncale,
the gravamen of a discrimination claim is a showing of disparate treatment. However, on several occasions prior to the Supreme Court’s decision in
Oncale,
the Seventh Cirсuit Court of Appeals has indicated a willingness to accept a claim of sexual harassment by both male and female employees against the same individual.
See McDonnell v. Cisneros,
For instance, in
McDonnell v. Cisneros,
the court was faced with a sexual harassment claim brought by both a male and a femаle employee alleging harassment stemming from an abusive investigation of charges that the employees engaged in job-related sexual misconduct. The complaint alleged that the process of investigating the anonymous complaint created the harassing environment. The Seventh Circuit, while affirming the lower court, did so, not because the plaintiffs could not prevail on claims of harassment by the same employer, but instead because the allegations that the investigation itsеlf was harassing would create an untenable scenario for employers investigating charges of sexual harassment.
McDonnell,
... [T]he government urges us to affirm the dismissal of the plaintiffs’ claim of sexual harassment on the ground that, since the harassment was impartially directed against the male and female accused of improper sexual activity, there was no dis *914 crimination on grounds of sex. We do not find this class of arguments compelling and are rather surprised to find the Department of Justice urging them ... It would be exceedingly perverse if a male worker could buy his supervisоrs and his company immunity from Title VII liability by taking care to harass sexually an occasional male worker, though his preferred targets were female.
McDonnell,
Similarly, in Doe, the Seventh Circuit, while faced primarily with the issue of same-sex harassment, provided a detailed analysis of hostile work environment sexual harassment. In doing so, the Seventh Circuit stated that “sexual epithets often directed at women, such as ‘cunt’ and ‘bitch’ clearly reflect the gender-based nature of the animus that motivates them.” Id. at 577 n. 10. The court further articulated that “we must question whether it is appropriate to view sexual harassment as actionable sex discrimination only when the plaintiff is able to show that she was harassed because she was a woman rather than a man, or vice versa.” Id. at 577. Under the Seventh Circuit’s view, proof that “the harasser was motivated to target one gender and not the other may be necessary where the harassment is not on its face sexual ... but such proof would seem unnecessary when the harassment itself is imbued with sexual overtones.” Thus, in this case, the Seventh Circuit determined that the sexual nature of the harassment itself meets the “because of sex” requirement. 3
In addition to the Seventh Circuit’s thoughts on the subject, district courts situated within the Seventh Circuit have taken a similar position. In
Miller v. Vesta,
In a Title VII sexual harassment case, the focus is on whether there is an allegation or evidence that the plaintiff suffered sexual harassment based on her sex. Disparate treatment of the genders is evidence of such harassment, but it is not a requirement. Thus, an employer that sexually harasses both genders equally is not insulated from Title VII liability. Instead, it would be liable for all of the sexual harassment it perpetrates because it is individuals, not classes, who suffer discrimination.
There, the primary issue was whether same-sex harassment was actionable. However, the court rejected the premise that “the cruciаl inquiry is whether the harasser treats a member or members of one sex differently from members of the opposite sex.” Instead, the court, citing
Meritor Savings Bank FSB v. Vinson,
Finally, in
Steiner v. Showboat Operating Co.,
In response to this argument, the Ninth Circuit concluded:
Furthermore, even if Trenkle used sexual epithets equal in intensity and in an equally degrading manner against male employees, he cannot thereby “cure” his conduct toward women ... [Although words from a man to a man are differently received than words from a man to a woman, we do not rule out the possibility that both men and women working at Showboat have viable claims against Trenkle for sexual harassment.
Steiner,
Prior to the
Oncale
decision, these cases created the impression that it was possible for both males and females to be sexually harassed by an “equal opportunity harasser.” This impression was created by language in these cases which suggested that disparate treatment was not necessarily the gravamen of a sex discrimination claim where the harassing сonduct itself demonstrated some gender animus. However, in light of the Supreme Court’s reaffirmation that proof that discrimination is “because of sex” requires a showing that “members of one sex are exposed to disadvantageous terms or conditions of employment to which members of the other sex are not exposed,”
Oncale,
523 U.S. at -,
We have never held that workplace harassment, even harassment between men and women, is automatically discrimination because of sex merely because the words used have sexual content or connotations.
Oncale,
523 U.S. at -,
Finally, a brief perusal of cases decided since
Oncale
leads the court to the conclusion that the equal opportunity harasser escapes the purview of Title VII liability.
See, e.g., Butler,
With these theoretical underpinnings set forth, the court turns now to the complaint in the present ease. The Holmans each allege conduct of a sexual nature by their supervisor which occurred because of their respective genders. With respect to Mrs. Holman, the complaint alleges that Uh-rich asked her to go to bed with him, touched her body, stood too closely to her and made sexist comments. When she refused the requests, she alleges that she received negative performance evaluations. In contrast, Mr. Holman alleges that Uhrich grabbed his head while asking for sexual favors. Upon his refusal, Mr. Holman alleges that Uhrich destroyed some of his belongings in his locker. From these allegations, it is clear that each suffered harassment which involved requests for sexual favors. Thus, neither was subjected to disadvantageous terms or conditions of employment to which members of the other sex were not exposed. For this reason, the court must dismiss the sexual harassment claims.
*916
Often the court is placed in the position of being the mediator between the reality of legal doctrine and the dictates of common sense. The court cannot deny that this is such a case. Certainly, the court is cognizant that to decide as it does creates an anomalous result in sexual harassment jurisprudence which leads to the questionable result that a supervisor who harasses either a man or a woman can be liable but a supervisor who harasses both cannot bе. While the court finds that the equal opportunity harasser escapes liability in the present ease, it is not condoning the existence of such conduct in the workplace. Simply put, the court concludes that, under current Title VII jurisprudence, conduct occurring equally to members of both genders cannot be discrimination “because of sex.” Title VII is not a “general civility code for the American workplace.”
Oncale,
— U.S. at -,
CONCLUSION
Based on the foregoing, the court DENIES Plaintiffs Motion for Reconsideration of this court’s previous order granting the Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss. The original Order GRANTING Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss the sexual harassment claims is hereby REINSTATED.
Notes
. Numerous scholarly articles exist on this subject which debate the propriety of the current state of sexual harassment jurisprudence. See The Equal Opportunity Harasser as a Paradigm for Recognizing Sexual Harassment of Homosexuals Under Title VII, Stephen S. Locke, 27 Rutgers L.J. 383 (1996); A Rose By Any Other Name ... The Gender Basis of Same-Sex Sexual Harassment, Robert Brookins, 46 Drake L.Rev. 441 (1998); Footnote 55: Closing the "Bisexual Defense" Loophole in Title VII Sexual Harassment Cases, Sandra Levitsky, 80 Minn.L.Rev. 1013 (1996); What’s Wrong with Sexual Harassment?, Katherine M. Franke, 49 Stan.L.Rev. 691 (1997).
. In addition to these defenses, a third defense arises in the context of the all-male or all-female work environment. In such cases where same-sex harassment is alleged and the environment exists solely of a single gender, there is clearly no evidence which could be presented to show that employees of the opposite gender were treated differently.
See Shermer v. Illinois Department of Transportation,
. Whether this reading of Doe remains viable is questionable in light of the Supreme Court's decision to vacate and remand, without opinion, the Seventh Circuit’s opinion on the basis of the holding in Oncale. Although the Oncale decision reiterates that the Supreme Court has "never held that workplace harassment, even harassment between men and women, is automatically' discrimination because of sex merely because the words used have sexual content or connotations,” this language appears not to foreclose the possibility that it could be if such sexual content indicated that "members of one sex are exposed to disadvantageous terms or conditions of employment to which members of the other sex are not exposed."
