Posted on 10/04/2015 6:44:39 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
A new book claims that male office workers are now so afraid of being on the receiving end of a sexual harassment case, they are reluctant to mentor, assist, befriend and even hold open doors for female colleagues.
Crushingly, the book, Sex & The Office suggests men now view such ordinary, decent behaviours as “too risky” – and, in what will be a bitter irony for equality campaigners – claims that, as a direct consequence, women are now failing to advance at work.
This terror of being accused of sexual harassment is now so common it has its own term, “backlash stress”. It sounds like something straight out of a Claims Direct ad – where the only victims are men.
The book’s author, Kim Elsesser, a research scholar at the University of California, argues that a “sex partition” has sprung up, which impedes women from building the vital network of contacts both within the workplace and socially.
And the author should know about tough working environments: she’s a former equities trader at Morgan Stanley.
Tellingly, Elsesser adds that companies themselves are contributing to this mess, as they are now so terrified of legal action they send staff on sexual harassment training courses, and are duty-bound to follow up on any allegation, however minor.
Ludicrously, Elsesser cites examples of men who have been dragged in by their HR departments for simply opening a door for a female colleague or complimenting her on a new suit. “Stories like these spread around workplaces, instilling a fear that innocent remarks will be misinterpreted,” she says.
No s**t, Sherlock!
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
A Coworker of mine got dragged thru a HR investigation after a female claimed sexism for holding a door open. Word got around and people stopped holding doors open. Guess what a complaint was received about that.
Do not make this mistake in the work place!
I generally stick to that with the exception of a few trusted co workers who I spend time outside of work with. However at work it is work as mentioning you went to a baseball game will Steve might offend someone.
Yet I can still manage to look helpless and recruit the nearest man to help me. The only time that tactic did not work was when the nearest man was Russian. Must have been a cultural thing.
There is a huge difference between complimenting someone and sexual harassment. However, sexual harassers often begin with what seem to be harmless compliments, and the situation escalates from there until the victim realizes that it has progressed to sexual harassment. I guess that’s why some companies do not want people to even compliment each other—because it can be difficult to tell the difference between a harmless compliment and the beginning stages of sexual harassment.
The writer, Naomi Schaffer Riley, paints a depressingly familiar picture of university lecturers who won’t even close their office doors when alone with a female student.
Happy to leave this madness soon.
Seriously, who doesn’t feel better after receiving a compliment? And I truly enjoy when a man opens the door for me, it makes me, as the “weaker vessel”, feel protected. Maybe you and I respect, appreciate and truly like men while feminists do not.
We look after one one another but this PC crap is ****
Ah, another of the many unintended consequences of proggies..
They sure are piling up.
American men are sick and tired of most American women.
The safe path for men in office environments is to never speak to a female unless the topic is immediate, quantifiable business. Don’t talk about the weather, sports, news, nothing ... conduct business professionally and dispassionately, then get the hell away from them.
That is the problem with Liberals and liberalism — they/it never bothers to assess the unintended consequences of actions.
***
That would require logical thought. If leftists were capable of logic they would not be leftists.
Holding a door for anyone, male, female or otherwise, is simple human kindness. People who don’t do it are typically self-absorbed jaggovs. This is just another way to divide those who should be united.
The best way for a man to conduct himself at work is not look at women, not even a glance, unless you’re speaking directly to them. Do not discuss anything whatsoever other then the task at hand if necessary and only speak in a low, quite apologetic manner.
I’m not sure that will help you though.
I lost a good electrician , in fact two because of that. I had two electricians working on terminations in junction boxes. These two worked well as a team. One man, one woman. One day the man told the woman “nice t shirt”. The t shirt was Texas A&M, where his children were going. The woman took no offense, but another woman walking by did take offense, claiming that he was harassing his coworker. HR summarily fired him, despite protestations. The coworker walked off the job two days later.
Even as an engineer I am walking on eggshells around some female coworkers. I can not even have a technical disagreement with some without being called a sexist pig.
Well, nothing is surefire, but you go with the odds.
You hit the nail on the head. Lately, things have seemed like a zombie cheerleading cult. I am there to work, not to have friendships forced on me. I will find my own friends from people who genuinely care about forming a friendship. All of this is HR-driven, the black hole repository of PC culture.
I am a woman and a retired high school teacher. My policy was never to be alone with a student — male or female.
We had a particulary good-looking young male teacher join our department for his first teaching job. I made it a point to advise him to adapt my policy.
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