| > really sexually harass someone - with touching involved I think your post is mostly fair..however, this particular sentence to me seems to imply that if there is no touching involved it's somehow not "real" sexual harassment, and that's something I would disagree with. This is overall a very very tricky subject. I think one thing a lot of people lose track of (not saying you are one, just commenting in general) is that it's something that needs to be considered on multiple levels. There are certain things that are "rude" to do, for example using curse words. If you want to promote an open community where everyone can feel welcome, you probably should have policies against using such words. That doesn't mean that if someone uses those words they are a bad person, or should be arrested, or condemned, or any such thing as that... However if they are contributing to creating a negative environment for some people, and if you want those people to be a part of the community that needs to be squashed and the person who did it might need to be spoken to or even reprimanded (appropriately). There's nothing wrong with having sexual feelings, but I think some people have an over-inflated sense of entitlement when it comes to expressing those sexual feelings. Women are constantly being reminded that they are Women, and being constantly reminded that they are viewed (at least to some extent) as sexual objects...when really they just want to feel like any other person and talk tech. It can be not only very exhausting, but insulting and even frightening. Many crimes against women begin with sexual overtures. So, I don't think it's a lot to ask to leave the attempted pick-ups to places like online dating sites, singles bars, dance clubs, etc...and leave sexual expression in general at home or when you're hanging out with friends and what-not. I think there certainly are some people who want to lock it down to an impractical level of political correctness, but I think it's more common for someone to make a reasonable suggestion that is met with comments about "men/sexuality being criminalized" (again, not referring to you...just commenting in general). I agree that it's something that needs to be spelled out more explicitly than "don't be a creep", if only because one of the reasons we have the problem is because some people don't understand or know what that means (and perhaps they shouldn't be expected to). |