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Sexual Harassment
- What is sexual harassment?
- Women's activists favor the so-called "reasonable woman" standard:
A man is guilty of sexual harassment if a "reasonable woman" feels
that he has been harassing her. Women adopted this standard widely in
the early to mid 1990s, when they greatly increased the number of
sexual harassment complaints they brought against men, often for what
men considered to be extremely trivial matters.
- Why Is the "Reasonable Woman" Standard A Disaster For Women?
- The evidence presented in Fraternizing With The Enemy shows
that the "reasonable woman" standard has been an absolute, total
disaster for women. Here are some examples.
Following the Clarence Thomas hearings, and Anita Hill's testimony
that he had told her some dirty jokes and asked her out, the
relationship between men and women in the marketplace became
enormously hostile, and this hostility ended up hurting women.
For example, one man, who runs a professional office and is quoted in
Fraternizing With The Enemy, had had the practice since the 70s
of hiring a woman college graduate each year to serve as an intern for
a year. Many of these went on to become professionals in their own
right. However, following Anita Hill's testimony, this man changed
his policy, and decided he would never hire another woman intern.
Since that time, he's only hired male interns.
Another example: A man ran an office where he normally had about a
dozen women social workers working for him. He told me, "I don't
dare even tell my employees, 'You look nice today,' because I'm
afraid she'll bring sexual harassment charges. The only exception is
my secretary -- she's worked for me for ten years, and I can trust
her."
In fact, almost every man I spoke to had some story. One man told he
that he'd seen a condom machine in a men's room, and he mentioned
briefly to a woman associate how shocked he was to see it; she
brought a sexual harassment complaint. "There's something wrong with
women. They're crazy."
One man after another told me they didn't want to have anything to
with women in the workplace. By extrapolating these examples, one
can estimate that literally millions of jobs nationwide suddenly
became unavailable to women. And women in the workplace were viewed
by men as being unstable, unreliable, untrustworthy or "crazy." In
many cases the only reason that women got jobs at all is because they
were willing to take lower pay than men.
- Did Women Gain Anything From The Anita Hill Disaster?
- I've heard from women who brought sexual harassment complaints
against someone, and it was always disastrous for the accused man, but
it was also disastrous for the accusing woman. These women were
treated with hostility by everyone else, including other women. It
was always much worse for them after they brought charges.
I saw one occasion like this with my own eyes between two people I
knew at work. The man said something dumb to the woman purposely to
annoy her. She complained to the HR rep. The HR rep, a woman,
called the man into her office and accused him of harassment. He got
angry and quit, and got another job immediately elsewhere, at higher
pay. The company lost a valuable worker, and everyone, especially the
women, especially the man's (female) manager, were furious at
this woman who brought the sexual harassment complaint and caused so
much trouble.
I've never heard a woman, feminist or non-feminist or whatever, who
has said that as a result of the aftermath of the Anita Hill
accusations, women are happier or better off or less harassed. In
fact, feminists are complaining about harassment as much as ever.
So, we've gone through all this turmoil for nothing.
- What Is The Model Harassment Policy?
- In 1994, I worked online with Cheryl Kondratow, head of a New
Jersey organization, Women Against Sexual Harassment, to develop a
Model Harassment Policy that both
men and women would agree with. I believe that it's a real
advancement for both men and women, and has the potential for
really reducing sexual harassment and other kinds of harassment
in the workplace.
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