How workplace or school sexual harassment hurts everyone
When someone sexually harasses others in a work or school environment, they're hurting almost everyone in that environment.
The obvious primary victim is the person being harassed. But it goes further.
Let's imagine this is a typical man-on-woman harassment. Other women who work in the same department will probably learn about it and avoid that harasser. They can end up being branded difficult or uninterested in advancing their careers, when basically they just don't want to spend time with a guy who's going to grab them. Men will not have the same hesitation to work with him because he doesn't grab them.
The company will lose the extra participation of those women and so it will lose out as well.
If the harasser is in a hiring position he can hire women who tickle his fancy rather than getting the job done. Company's money wasted on underqualified women. And men working there may not realize the reason it seems like "women just can't do this job well" is because they were selected for something other than their work abilities.
Other men at the company will be treated with suspicion by women who know about the harassment, especially if the harasser isn't stopped and punished. Interaction will be artificially stifled, especially in informal situations, overtime, weekends, when a lot of the bonding between employees takes place.
This is what is meant by a hostile environment. You can't get as much done in an atmosphere of fear and distrust.
The obvious primary victim is the person being harassed. But it goes further.
Let's imagine this is a typical man-on-woman harassment. Other women who work in the same department will probably learn about it and avoid that harasser. They can end up being branded difficult or uninterested in advancing their careers, when basically they just don't want to spend time with a guy who's going to grab them. Men will not have the same hesitation to work with him because he doesn't grab them.
The company will lose the extra participation of those women and so it will lose out as well.
If the harasser is in a hiring position he can hire women who tickle his fancy rather than getting the job done. Company's money wasted on underqualified women. And men working there may not realize the reason it seems like "women just can't do this job well" is because they were selected for something other than their work abilities.
Other men at the company will be treated with suspicion by women who know about the harassment, especially if the harasser isn't stopped and punished. Interaction will be artificially stifled, especially in informal situations, overtime, weekends, when a lot of the bonding between employees takes place.
This is what is meant by a hostile environment. You can't get as much done in an atmosphere of fear and distrust.
Posted by oldfeminist at 11/14/2011 4:19 PM 
Categories: school, education, sexist, male as default, entitled white males
Categories: school, education, sexist, male as default, entitled white males
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