“Back then it was a man’s right to ask; a woman’s right to say “No.” And it would end there.”
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I recently learned at a mandatory company-wide sexual harassment rules training - large company - to my surprize, that according to our HR people themselves, it is ok for a man to ask, and a woman to say no.
The thing is, it’s ok to ask, just about one time. And of course one cannot be lewd about it.
But it is in fact ok to ask. At least that’s what was said. I was flabbergasted.
Maybe it’s just our company, but I don’t think it’s likely HR is going rogue about something that basic.
I teach at a large mid-western university. We had the director of Affirmative Action come and speak about the University's Sexual Harassment Policy to a Masters of Accounting seminar. I was consistently surprised by how reasonably the policy was interpreted and enforced.
Although the question of a simple proposition and a no response never came up, it seems clear from the other responses to questions that it would not be seen an act of sexual harassment. Of course, that assumes that the proposition was not lewd or otherwise egregious, the "no" was accepted as a "no", and no retribution was forthcoming.
Overall, it seems that the policy enforcers here were concerned that both the accused and accuser were fairly treated.
In the company I worked for, it was okay for men and women to date one another, however, legal wanted to keep on file that they were dating and wanted in writing that it was consentual with both parties.
snicker, yeah right..... I seriously doubt anyone did that! They’d just date on the sly.
They were okay with the dating thing and I don’t know what happened but next thing we knew, they wanted it in writing. None of their business! What a country!