In one season of the Dutch version of "Survivor," the men and women were split and given their own islands. At the end of 8 days, the men had a "Cafe on the beach," while the women were stealing from each other and had not yet built a hut; the women approved of a tribe merger.

I was the one woman on an all-male team in an very male industry, and while it's different from female drama, they did have their little gossip alliances. The boss's little brother, who was banging a really hot model, was the usual target (although he was talented and hard working). They would also gossip about a woman in accounting who had slept with two of them - it was harsh! I was like, well damn if I ever go on a date with anyone here. Didn't matter, though, they had aligned against all the women, and any hint of sluttiness—for instance, when an extremely attractive flirted her way out of a traffic ticket—would inspire hours and hours of really ugly, fruitless gossip. They would also align racially - the office was about 2/3 Latino, 1/3 white, and the white guys definitely had a clique to get each other work, while the Latino guys would target one or two of the less talented white guys and try to have them give up plum assignments. It was weird.

My next job was probably 80% female. And, while the gossip was sometimes annoying, it was a lot easier for me to navigate. With the guys, I always felt like it came down to my sexual availability (I was safe as long as I wasn't available, but if I so much as flirted with a guy BAM I was a target), for some reason I wasn't really pulled into the race war. With other women, it was just like, "Oh my god she gets so bitchy when she doesn't eat, someone get her a piece of toast." "I totally know, I'm going to give her a food assignment and she's totally going to like have to eat." "Well then she won't be such a bitch." "Right? Oh my god." That woman, btw, found out about it, confessed to being anorexic in the ladies room, which went all around the office via gossip, she ended up getting help, and she's still respected in the industry and seems really happy. Like, the gossip was vicious, but it accomplished something. Gossiping about how distended an accountant's vagina must be after sleeping with two men? I don't know.

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