[Rhodes22-list] Sexual Harassment

[elle]

This garbage is just another one of our politically-correct society's ability to do the right thing for the wrong reason in a totally back-a**ed way.
 
elle

We can't change the angle of the wind....but we can adjust our sails.

1992 Rhodes 22 Recyc '06 "WaterMusic" (Lady in Red)

--- On Sun, 11/23/08, Brad Haslett <flybrad at gmail.com> wrote:

From: Brad Haslett <flybrad at gmail.com>
Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Sexual Harassment
To: "The Rhodes 22 Email List" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Date: Sunday, November 23, 2008, 8:51 AM

BTW, does anyone have a copy of the official sexual harassment policy
of "da list"? This is from one of my favorite bloggers and a fellow
aviator.

Brad

-------------------

TRAINING DAY

In which a lunatic has an aneurism over apparently nothing.

Next April, I'm going to turn fifty. I'll be fifty years old. Good
lord.

Somehow, I've managed to get this far without working in a large
corporate office. So today I got my first taste of a world that most
of you are already much more familiar with than I am: the world of
modern American big business. So what lit me up like a Fourth of July
skyrocket was something that seemed to mean nothing at all to the
other 23 people in the room, because today, for the first time, I had
to attend a mandatory sexual harassment training course.

Now, before I get up a really good head of steam and a decent running
start, let me say a few things.

First of all, I work for a great company, full of creative and
terrific people, and, by some miracle of chance, not a one of them are
stupid, boorish, authoritarian or in any way less than smart,
well-meaning people. I understand, also, that the reason for these
sessions is to provide legal protection to the company, so that if a
harassment claim is made, they can say, "look, we did everything we
could to combat this sort of thing." I get all that.

I also understand that other companies are not this fortunate, and
that racial, sexual and other forms of harassment go on daily and
cause great harm, both in terms of productivity, and more importantly,
spiritual well-being. No one should have to endure attack or
intimidation. So if you think this is going to an appeal to "lighten
up," you're going to be disappointed. For me, this is not about actual
harassment, which needs to be ruthlessly exterminated from the
workplace. This is about something else again.

Where do I begin?

Well, first of all, I find it deeply offensive to my personal sense of
honor and integrity to be punished or otherwise lectured on something
I did not do. Period. And to be subjected to two hours of second-grade
style, "who can tell me what Johnny did wrong by telling Sarah she has
a hot body" lecturing infuriates me on many levels.

To begin with, I do not need to be told this is inappropriate
behavior. I already know that is inappropriate behavior. I learned
that was inappropriate behavior not from the State of California or a
battalion of corporate lawyers, but from my parents, who raised me to
be polite, well-mannered, and who spent much of their own youth trying
to form me into a civilized gentleman. I know, I can see the smiles on
many faces already. It's like I'm speaking in Aramaic.

I was treated to a video that had precisely the same emotional pitch
and condescension as the old ABC After-School Specials, which is
appropriate when aimed at 10-year-olds but in a room full of adults
was unimaginably cloying and infantile. In this helpful lecture on the
evils of hateful stereotypes, a clueless, insensitive white male
managed to offend everyone without the dimmest awareness of his own
boorishness until confronted and re-educated (with a rising string
section!) by emotionally advanced, sensitive (yet strong!) women and
his solemn, understanding (but firm!), black male superior.

I'm getting a little tired of this movie. I see this movie everyday.

But what really set me off was learning that there are "protected
categories" of people who apparently have special claims on being
harassed, and that these groups include, but are not limited to:

"Race, color…" [in case you happen to be green or of some color not
associated with your race] "…religious creed, sex, national origin,
ancestry, citizenship status, pregnancy, childbirth…" [this being
different from pregnancy presumably only if you are actually giving
birth right there in your cubicle] "…physical disability, mental
disability, age, military status or status as a Vietnam-era or special
disabled veteran, marital status, registered domestic partner or civil
union status, gender (including sex stereotyping and gender identity
or expression), medical condition (including, but not limited to,
cancer-related or HIV-related), or sexual orientation."

These – including but not limited to -- "protected categories" are
areas in which "harassment" is especially hurtful, as far as I can
understand it… which is not very far at all. Can you – offhand – think
of any kind of harassment that does not fit into these categories? I
suppose saying hateful things about the Florida State football team is
okay as long as I don't use the word "Seminoles" (which would
then
become offensive on the grounds of race, color, religious creed,
national origin, ancestry and military status; to which, I will add as
a Gator fan regarding FSU grads, mental disability and – what the hell
– sexual orientation.)

All of this is mere sophistry and cover of course, for the essence of
the 22 page workbook I received (and for which I was not given a
crayon with which to write nor a gold star when it was completed) was
boiled down to a single sentence, in bold italics at the bottom of
page 15:


It is not the intent of the alleged harasser, but the impact on the recipient.

It doesn't matter if you meant to hurt someone. As long as someone was
hurt, then harassment took place.

Now at the end of all this, the facilitator – who is clearly a lovely
person, for this is not aimed at her – smilingly told us not to be
paranoid but just to be careful not to offend anyone. And the other 23
people nodded happily and made jokes and goofed around to show how
lighthearted and un-paranoid we suddenly all were. And yet, this
harassment and sensitivity training did not succeed fully, because
there was one person who was offended, and who in point of fact felt
extremely harassed. And that person was me.

Perhaps, in future editions of the handbook, we can add another victim
group to the protected category: rational adults. Perhaps I might
contribute a chapter to this sensitivity training. Something like:

"The rational adult is a small and shrinking minority in the
workplace. His cultural heritage – which is just as valuable as anyone
else's! – has taught him that "personal responsibility" means
he has a
right to feel insulted, offended and harassed when being lectured on
things that he did not do, nor would ever contemplate doing. In this
ancient and primitive culture, a person's "honor" and
"integrity" are
relied upon to govern behavior. If such a person unknowingly gives
insult, they will "apologize." According to their tribal ethics,
people who intentionally harm, insult or harass others deserve to be
fired on the spot."

I am told this course was "preventative" – to stop harassment
before
it happens. Fair enough. Tomorrow, perhaps, we can have a course on
how to prevent office electrocutions by sticking screwdrivers into the
sockets, or a poison-prevention class involving two role-players and a
gallon of copier toner, or perhaps we can facilitate a upper-level
meeting to try and determine what warning placards may be missing from
every object and sharp corner in the building, or a support group for
those people rendered incapable of speaking or smiling for fear of
giving some kind of unintentional offense to someone. These are all
areas ripe for new legislation and demanding of state funding. Because
when you really get down to how much unintentional offense there
remains left to give, you can see we have a genuine crisis on our
hands.

Look, there are two ways to prevent young children from drowning:

1.Place barricades, gates, locks, and other restraining devices around
any body of water large enough to immerse the child's head in; in
addition, provide education, audio-visual instruction, role-playing
and other methods to inform young children on the dangers of inhaling
large amounts of water – whether it be fresh water or sea water – and
to provide the funding, continuing outreach and community activism
necessary to make sure that ALL Americans are prevented from
encountering these deadly dangers wherever they may be found.

Or:

2.Teach your kid how to swim.


My parents – remember them? – taught me at an early age that what
people said or thought or wrote about me did not have the power to
hurt me – only I can allow them to do that. My self-worth,
self-respect and self-esteem are earned, and not given, and are
therefore mine – impervious to anything in the outside world, which is
why I am willing to sit at this desk, as the only one of 24 happy,
smart, creative people, and look like some reactionary nut case for
being enraged about the fact that we willingly submit ourselves to
insults to our personal honor and integrity that our forefathers would
never, ever have countenanced. And I am ashamed on behalf of them. But
just me. No one else thinks anything of it at all.

And so, with smiles and good will all around, behind a plate of donuts
and cartons of morning orange juice, we again fall another step from
the adult world of action and consequence, to the warm, friendly,
everlasting childhood of kindergarten, where no one's feelings can
ever be hurt and teacher is always there to make sure – in her gentle
but firm way – that there will never be harmful consequences to your
actions because your actions will be so curtailed in advance that
offending someone – like feeding and housing yourself – are things
that we simply no longer have to worry about any more.

And the endless sleep, in the warm, clean, fluffy bed, continues unabated.

Forever.

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