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Originally Posted by GordonBlue
and if you worked in his office/department and you responded to him like that, you'd likely have been out of a job and perhaps been blackballed from working for the government. not as simple as saying you would have put him in his place and life goes on the same as before.
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Not to mention that Minnie might not be the shy, shrinking type, but some people are, and shouldn't be in any worse a position in their office for that.
Plus, anecdotally, I actually know someone who is the exact opposite of a shrinking violet, apparently had something totally inappropriate said to her at a work function (I didn't press as to what exactly it was). She weighed the pros and cons and ultimately decided it wasn't worth the drama of having to deal with the fallout, going over her story in a boardroom in front of HR and senior management people, and getting someone canned, all while potentially affecting the way people looked at her at work and her future prospects of advancement. I couldn't really tell her she was wrong to make that decision, either. So, he just gets away with it, and presumably can go ahead and behave likewise in the future. It's pretty clear that this stuff does happen all too frequently and that often there are no consequences, even when the person it happens to isn't the sort you'd consider terribly vulnerable.
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Originally Posted by rubecube
I mean if the rumours in this thread are to be believed, then groping would be first on my mind. I guess it really depends on if your definition of "unsafe" is restricted to a fear of physical injury. Fear of psychological injury should be included.
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It's a tough one, because you're right, it wouldn't be at all unreasonable to feel unsafe if someone you know has a history of sexually assaulting people (which is what groping someone is) turned his attention to you and made sexual comments.
That being said, a general view that psychological injury is something we should include in the "unsafe" column is harder, because someone could - and perhaps reasonably - say that they were psychologically harmed by, for example, lewd jokes. That depends on the constitution of the person hearing the joke. But I don't for a second believe that lewd jokes should be seen as a potential safety risk. There has to be a line drawn somewhere, and though it's not perfect, physical interference is the best I've got at the moment.