Post: #1

Hahahahahahaha.

Anyone who has been forced to sit through one of these brainwashing sessions at work knows they're ineffective. Now the UK paper the Guardian is reporting that a researcher at the University of California at Berkeley thinks they might actually have a counter-effect.

This is happening for several reasons. One -- which I personally witnessed at work -- is the examples they give of sexual harassment make it seem like a cartoonish joke. No one takes these "re-enactments" in the films they show seriously.

But more importantly, because these films (and talks) hammer home the point that women are special, wilting flowers, the men who go through sexual harassment training tend to see women as women per se, not co-workers. I've said for years this would happen. From the article:

“The purpose of sexual harassment policy is to make men and women more equal in the workplace,” said Justine Tinkler, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Georgia and co-author of the study. “If the policies are sort of activating gender stereotypes rather than challenging them, they may not be promoting that broader goal.”

Other problems caused by such training include a backlash against women (duh), paranoia against false accusations, and...oh wait...what's this? Hm. Looks like THEY DON'T WORK!!!!!

"Despite those training policies, UC Berkeley administrators and professors have repeatedly harassed subordinates and students and faced light punishments after the university substantiated allegations. That includes a famous astronomer, a tenure-track professor and the law dean, who was ordered to take a training course after he was found guilty."


As I said: Hahahahaha. This reminds me of those "D.A.R.E." programs they did in schools that were supposed to turn kids away from drugs, but instead ended up getting kids interested in them.

It's also telling that a UK paper broke this story. The U.S. media is way too prudish to be able to handle this. I usually don't like to send traffic to media sites, but in this case, the Guardian deserves them, because this stuff needs to be reported.

Post: #2

Now women are complaining that the men they work with don't want to be around them anymore and they're missing out on networking opportunities. Well sweetie, being around you at the wrong time when you're in one of your moods can cost a motherfucker his livelihood, and you're surprised that they don't want to be around you after knowing that?

Post: #3

Just to add something about California employment law to this, all employees in a supervisory role are required to take a two hour sexual harassment course every two years. The one time I had to take it, it was a complete joke. This law came about from Schwartzeneger's campaign for governor a decade a ago where it came out he allegedly harassed women he worked with. So the democrat controlled legislature made this law out of spite.

Post: #4

(05-06-2016 11:26 AM)eatthishomie Wrote:  Now women are complaining that the men they work with don't want to be around them anymore and they're missing out on networking opportunities. Well sweetie, being around you at the wrong time when you're in one of your moods can cost a motherfucker his livelihood, and you're surprised that they don't want to be around you after knowing that?

I thought the same thing after that whole Donglegate episode where a guy at a tech conference made an offhand joke to his (male) friend about “big” dongles and “forking someone’s repo” and got fired because a woman overheard it.

You don't even have to be speaking to them. And thanks to the internet, you don't even have to be at work. All you have to do is slip up once and if they're in earshot and they hear something they don't like, you might be out of a job.

So yeah, why wouldn't men be cautious ...

Post: #5

The anti-rape classes they teach the migrants in Europe probably have the opposite effect as well