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For Female Astronomers, Sexual Harassment Is a Constant Nightmare

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Re: For Female Astronomers, Sexual Harassment Is a Constant Nightmare

#11

Post by ainiriand »

sp332 wrote: post #3
bunnymancer wrote: post #2

Yet people find it hard to understand why some people might be somewhat offended by a shirt with scantily clad women during a press conference. Things do not happen in a vacuum and pretending like nothing is wrong isn't going to help anyone get anywhere.

The guy wore the shirt to a celebration after working with those co-workers for 10 years. It wasn't intended to look "professional" and I'm pretty sure none of those co-workers were offended. The reason the shirt was a bad idea is that it was easily misinterpreted by people watching the press conference. Edit: I didn't see it at the time, but this article exactly reflects my perspective on the thing. http://www.theat…

A shirt that depicts women as objects or objectized women is just plain wrong. I do not care about the celebration.

Re: For Female Astronomers, Sexual Harassment Is a Constant Nightmare

#12

Post by ceejayoz »

sqldba wrote: post #4

It sounds terrible. And yet working in he unrelated field of IT I haven't seen it. I have seen a bunch of assholes in high positions though and have to put up with their idiotic demands and abuse. So when I read these articles I wonder if it's the same people and how they translate treating male workers like garbage into treating female workers like garbage. It's not misogyny; it's welcome to the workforce and dealin…

> And yet working in he unrelated field of IT I haven't seen it.

The article notes various reasons for this. It gets covered up, abusers are generally cautious about where/when they do it, some people don't perceive it as abuse, etc.

Take Bill Cosby as an example. Decades of consistent reports of behavior (to the point where 30 Rock was making pointed jokes about it years ago), dozens of victims, legal settlements, and he's still got plenty of people who won't believe it happened defending him.

Re: For Female Astronomers, Sexual Harassment Is a Constant Nightmare

#13

Post by kelukelugames »

sqldba wrote: post #4

It sounds terrible. And yet working in he unrelated field of IT I haven't seen it. I have seen a bunch of assholes in high positions though and have to put up with their idiotic demands and abuse. So when I read these articles I wonder if it's the same people and how they translate treating male workers like garbage into treating female workers like garbage. It's not misogyny; it's welcome to the workforce and dealin…

"sexual harassment for nearly over a decade, with student allegations of unwanted massages, groping, and kissing"

I think that is much more than being an asshole. As a straight man, I don't even know if it's possible to make me feel this uncomfortable in the workplace.

Re: For Female Astronomers, Sexual Harassment Is a Constant Nightmare

#14

Post by throwaway_23049 »

sqldba wrote: post #4

It sounds terrible. And yet working in he unrelated field of IT I haven't seen it. I have seen a bunch of assholes in high positions though and have to put up with their idiotic demands and abuse. So when I read these articles I wonder if it's the same people and how they translate treating male workers like garbage into treating female workers like garbage. It's not misogyny; it's welcome to the workforce and dealin…

I've worked at a company that clearly had a brogrammer, hostile environment vibe, which the people in power were simply not conscious of.

I'm happy to report that over several years, attitudes improved, more women got hired, and the environment became much better.

It took effort and strategic issue framing from those of us who wanted to see change, and it took flexibility from those who decided to become part of the change -- but it happened.

Re: For Female Astronomers, Sexual Harassment Is a Constant Nightmare

#15

Post by yitchelle »

sp332 wrote: post #3
bunnymancer wrote: post #2

Yet people find it hard to understand why some people might be somewhat offended by a shirt with scantily clad women during a press conference. Things do not happen in a vacuum and pretending like nothing is wrong isn't going to help anyone get anywhere.

The guy wore the shirt to a celebration after working with those co-workers for 10 years. It wasn't intended to look "professional" and I'm pretty sure none of those co-workers were offended. The reason the shirt was a bad idea is that it was easily misinterpreted by people watching the press conference. Edit: I didn't see it at the time, but this article exactly reflects my perspective on the thing. http://www.theat…

There is no excuse for these type of behaviour, none.

Re: For Female Astronomers, Sexual Harassment Is a Constant Nightmare

#16

Post by kelukelugames »

bunnymancer wrote: post #2

Yet people find it hard to understand why some people might be somewhat offended by a shirt with scantily clad women during a press conference. Things do not happen in a vacuum and pretending like nothing is wrong isn't going to help anyone get anywhere.

In a forum dominated by men, under-socialized men because they have few female co workers, there is a lack of understanding and sympathy for anything less than groping. Last time I was on here, HN users defended their right to make dick jokes in the work place.

Re: For Female Astronomers, Sexual Harassment Is a Constant Nightmare

#17

Post by mooseburger »

ainiriand wrote: post #11
sp332 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The guy wore the shirt to a celebration after working with those co-workers for 10 years. It wasn't intended to look "professional" and I'm pretty sure none of those co-workers were offended. The reason the shirt was a bad idea is that it was easily misinterpreted by people watching the press conference. Edit: I didn't see it at the time, but this article exactly reflects my perspective on the thing. http://www.theat…

A shirt that depicts women as objects or objectized women is just plain wrong. I do not care about the celebration.

It's art. The shirt was also made by a woman, for what it's worth.

Re: For Female Astronomers, Sexual Harassment Is a Constant Nightmare

#18

Post by danso »

Though the submitted article does link to the BuzzFeed articles, it's curious that BuzzFeed isn't mentioned by name in the same way that the NYT and WaPo are...even though in the WaPo case, the WaPo was simply playing catch-up to BuzzFeed's exclusive investigations, particularly in the cases of Drs. Marcy and Ott, which are indepth enough to be interesting longform reading on their own:

- http://www.buzzfeed.com/azeenghorayshi/famous-astronomer-all...

- http://www.buzzfeed.com/azeenghorayshi/ott-harassment-invest...

Re: For Female Astronomers, Sexual Harassment Is a Constant Nightmare

#19

Post by corford »

ainiriand wrote: post #11
sp332 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The guy wore the shirt to a celebration after working with those co-workers for 10 years. It wasn't intended to look "professional" and I'm pretty sure none of those co-workers were offended. The reason the shirt was a bad idea is that it was easily misinterpreted by people watching the press conference. Edit: I didn't see it at the time, but this article exactly reflects my perspective on the thing. http://www.theat…

A shirt that depicts women as objects or objectized women is just plain wrong. I do not care about the celebration.

You do realise the shirt was given to him by a female colleague/friend right?

Re: For Female Astronomers, Sexual Harassment Is a Constant Nightmare

#20

Post by ownagefool »

ainiriand wrote: post #11
sp332 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The guy wore the shirt to a celebration after working with those co-workers for 10 years. It wasn't intended to look "professional" and I'm pretty sure none of those co-workers were offended. The reason the shirt was a bad idea is that it was easily misinterpreted by people watching the press conference. Edit: I didn't see it at the time, but this article exactly reflects my perspective on the thing. http://www.theat…

A shirt that depicts women as objects or objectized women is just plain wrong. I do not care about the celebration.

Do you find it wrong in general or wrong in a professional setting?
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