[MR] Personal Responsibility & Sexual Harrassment (Re: Society notice)

[Scribe0002 at aol.com]

The thread on the background checks has been interesting and I appreciate  
the various opinions. It will be further interesting to see how this is  
implemented by the BoD.
 
I would like to address a side issue that somehow entwined itself in this  
discussion. Sexual harassment at events and what falls under that  
categorization. 
 
Our good Baroness Elizabeth stated, " Verbal sexual banter that makes you  
uncomfortable is SEXUAL HARASSMENT and a reportable offense."
 
In respect, I would like to disagree with Her Excellency. Verbal sexual  
banter that makes you uncomfortable is not sexual harassment until you make it  
clear it is unwelcome and ask or tell the offender to stop in a clear way. If  
they continue, ~that's~ when it becomes sexual harassment.
 
The legal definition (and if we're talking about filing police reports,  
that's the standard we must use) according to Penn State University's Web page  
and the EEOC sexual harassment is defined as follows:
 
Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or  
physical conduct of a sexual nature constitutes sexual harassment when  
submission to or rejection of this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an  
individual's employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual's work  
performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment. 
This definition has been further elaborated:  
Sexual harassment can occur in a variety of circumstances, including but not  
limited to the following:  
    *   The victim as well as the harasser may be a woman or a man. The 
victim  does not have to be of the opposite sex.  
    *   The harasser can be the victim's supervisor, an agent of the 
employer, a  supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or a non-employee.  
    *   The victim does not have to be the person harassed but could be 
anyone  affected by the offensive conduct.  
    *   Unlawful sexual harassment may occur without economic injury to or  
discharge of the victim.  
    *   The harasser's conduct must be unwelcome. 
(end quoted material)
 
Yes, this is written with workplace harassment in mind, but the definition  
is the same in or out of the work place.
 
If someone touches you inappropriately, that's a different matter, but in  
situations where sexually charged or explicit conversation is at issue, it is  
the responsibility of the offended person to express their objections clearly.  
If they are unwilling to do so in cases of words and discussion that they 
find  offensive, they have no business making official complaints after the  fact.


~gise . . . who's seen the sexual harassment card played all too often and  
abused




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