Sexual Harassment: For Sex or Money? EssayJon Flerchinger Period 4 C. C. E. Paper #5 It is tragic that such a country exists in today’s world. The citizenslive in constant fear.
The children are force fed the New Philosophy. Theadults have an invariable fear that they will be the next to be arraigned ontrumped up charges. Amazingly the cause of all the terror is not the government,but private individuals seeking to take advantage of a weak government. Whatcountry is this? The Middle East? Perhaps war torn Eastern-Europe? No, it isthe United States that fosters such anarchy, in the form of sexual harassmentsuits. People from both sexes find themselves editing their conversations. They are trying to take out anything that might be misread as an innuendo.
Itis getting so absurd that a simple date is turning into a well-documented legalaffair. Sexual harassment is not normal human behavior, but explicit sexualinfluence from a superior. Take the case of the six-year-old boy from Wisconsin. He kissed anothersix-year-old on the cheek. She asked him to do it, and the act was totallyinnocent. The first grader was suspended for a day for sexual harassment.
I amreally glad that I did not go to that school when I was six. I would have beenexpelled. To tell a little boy that it is amoral to kiss anyone on the cheek iswrong. To punish him for it shows a situation that has gone completely out ofcontrol.
The boy did not even know what sex was, much less how to harasssomeone with it! If it takes these extreme measures to keep harassment out ofthe workplace then maybe we should abolish the workplace too. A case that clearly does show sexual harassment is Bob Packwood. Packwood used his position and power to take sexual favors from women. Heforced his attention on women in his staff who had no choice but to accept himor quit their jobs. Packwood’s actions show that he does not care much aboutother’s opinions, least of all women’s. Packwood has chauvinistic and unfairideas about society and he casts a dark shadow on all males.
Cases likePackwood’s are to be minimized, but not at the cost of everyone else’s rights. A case that does not come close to Packwood’s in significance orprecedent, but that does equal it in outrage, is the story of a twelve-year-oldboy in Oregon. This boy stuck out his tongue at another girl his age. He wassuspended for three days for sexual harassment. The administrators said he was mimicking oral sex.
The girl was shocked. She had no idea the boy would be insuch hot water. The parents were outraged that their boy was accused ofmimicking something that he could not even define. At twelve I thought oral sexwas phone sex! The boy just needed to be reprimanded not kicked out of schoolfor three days. If we are so strict when we are watching our kids they will dotheir exploring completely outside of out supervision.
A strong example of what sexual harassment is, is the Ed Fadely casecoming up. Ed is much like Packwood in that he used his position to forcesexual favors out of his staff. The way in which Ed differs is that he is ajudge. He is supposed to interpret the law. Instead Ed broke it, and hemisinterpreted it for others coming in and out of the court-room.
Ed not onlyhurt himself and the women he abused. He also hurt every member of societycoming through his doors seeking restitution and justice. Ed needs to go downbig time, but not if it means locking up six-year-old cheek-kissers. At the University of Oregon now, students must receive explicitpermission to hug, to kiss, to .
. . You get the idea. If the baby boomers wererequired to jump through all of these hoops none of us would have been born. The point is that you cannot regulate manners. Even the victims agree thatthese type of strategies will not work.
Sexual harassment problems are powerproblems, not manner problems. If the administrators want to curb problems thenthey should set up harsher penalties, not harsher preventive measures. Sexualharassment is not a pickup line. Sexual harassment is not your boss trying to get a date with you. It’syour boss telling you to choose between a date .
