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Americans Are Wary of Being Alone with the Opposite Sex

nytimes.com

1–10 of 27 posts

Re: Americans Are Wary of Being Alone with the Opposite Sex

#2
I find this to be both very true, and very unfortunate.

It took me years (and being fired from a "zero tolerance" job) to figure out how to put women at ease around me. Most of it involves "avoid being alone with or physically close to them", and "censor yourself heavily".

It strikes me as a really unfortunate way to go through public life, but since I'm a physically large guy with stunted skills for recognizing subtle social cues, it's the only way to avoid making women uncomfortable (and, frankly, to avoid another harassment charge).

Re: Americans Are Wary of Being Alone with the Opposite Sex

#3
One thing that looks interesting from the data is that women censor man-women contacts more than men. Of course women who are more open to these connections as well can get a huge benefit in their business life (which may incur a cost in their private life, like not having time for those ,,women only'' parties).

Re: Americans Are Wary of Being Alone with the Opposite Sex

#4
One thing I've noticed about American culture, versus the other countries I've been/worked in, is that it's highly litigious. I suspect that one of the reasons people feel uncomfortable is the threat of lawsuit (or being buried in a corporate landslide triggered by policies designed to avoid lawsuit). This in addition to the finger-pointing at older Evangelical attitudes in the article...

Re: Americans Are Wary of Being Alone with the Opposite Sex

#5
What did they expect from the survey? Most American work places are not known for cultural or social open-ness, whether for good or bad. Of course the data will not reflect people engaging in any extra communication other than base minimum. I've been struggling with the idea over my career but I feel I've had most success when I did not socialize with coworkers other than for business. It's unfortunate because we see each other so much out of our lives but it seems socialization impedes career growth.

Re: Americans Are Wary of Being Alone with the Opposite Sex

#6
People worry about work meetings with a single person of the opposite sex present? Weird. In my part-time freelancing, I've had meetings and lunches with female clients and never felt any sort of tension or discomfort. Maybe because I'm the one doing the "selling", but the thought of hitting on these women while we're trying to negotiate a deal seems completely unprofessional and off the table.

Don't people understand that "don't shit where you eat" means you can still do your job effectively?

Re: Americans Are Wary of Being Alone with the Opposite Sex

#8
post #3

One thing that looks interesting from the data is that women censor man-women contacts more than men. Of course women who are more open to these connections as well can get a huge benefit in their business life (which may incur a cost in their private life, like not having time for those ,,women only'' parties).

Can you explain why you think working with men (but not working with women) makes it difficult for women to socialize with each other?

Re: Americans Are Wary of Being Alone with the Opposite Sex

#9
post #7

The graph labeled What Women Think, by Age and Religion shows that younger women are more inclined to view meeting alone as inappropriate, by a wide margin. Surprising.

I also found that interesting. i had to reread the chsrt to be sute, because my bias was that older women would find it more innappriate. I have two hypotheses about what's driving that:

1. Harrasment is more well-known now, and less tolerated 2. The call-out culture today doesn't actually prepare people to interact with members of the opposite sex as adults.

I believe (2) is more likely to be true. What I mean by two is that, with young people being encouraged to "call out" any interaction they might find slightly uncomfortable, they develop a sense of fear and wariness around cross-sex interactions, and can't manage their feelings of attraction.

Re: Americans Are Wary of Being Alone with the Opposite Sex

#10
post #9
post #7

The graph labeled What Women Think, by Age and Religion shows that younger women are more inclined to view meeting alone as inappropriate, by a wide margin. Surprising.

I also found that interesting. i had to reread the chsrt to be sute, because my bias was that older women would find it more innappriate. I have two hypotheses about what's driving that: 1. Harrasment is more well-known now, and less tolerated 2. The call-out culture today doesn't actually prepare people to interact with members of the opposite sex as adults. I believe (2) is more likely to be true. What I mean by tw…

The third possibility is men aren't sexually attracted to older women.
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