For Female Astronomers, Sexual Harassment Is a Constant Nightmare

Post by adrienne » Mon, Apr 25, 2016, 10:06 AM UTC

GFK_of_xmaspast wrote: post #230

graycat wrote: post #212

I've been a prof: Academics is awash in non-objective pushing and shoving that, yes, affects careers. In academics, even high end universities, a lot of the nasty behavior of middle school is still alive and well. Added to that is grown up politics, professional jealousy, professional competition with sabotage, and, also, no doubt, sexual harassment as in the OP. I can't speak first hand about sexual harassment becau…

This is what "being part of the problem" looks like.

Yeah, this dude is creepy as shit and if i knew him in real life i would keep as much distance as possible between him and me. I feel really, really sorry for his wife.

Post by teddyh » Mon, Apr 25, 2016, 8:18 PM UTC

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #398

teddyh wrote: post #397

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand where you’re coming from, but the same argument was, and is, made when defending the usage of the word “Gay” as a general disparaging adjective. In a way, the people making that argument, and you when making yours, are right in that many or perhaps most people don’t mean anything sexual in using the phrase¹. But this does not mean that it should therefore be OK to call something “Gay” or labeling a perso…

At the same time, language changes all the time. It didn't mean the same thing when my kids called something "radical" as in my day. Modern culture has a way of burning up useful words, when they become PC unacceptable. Remember when "idiot", "moron" and "retarded" were technical terms with no emotional baggage? No? You were born too late for that. Its probably different when words that used to be disparaging become…

> Because there remain a generation that are still offended by them, we should probably lighten up on them

You’re missing the point. That is not the reason. The reason why one shouldn’t use the term “Gay”, even if one doesn’t mean anything actually homophobic by it, is that by using the term, one encourages actual homophobes and reinforces their belief that their hatred and/or fear of homosexuals is normal. You might think that everyone who hears you knows you don’t mean “Gay” as a homophobic slur, but I can assure you — you would be wrong.

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

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