31 tweets about sexual harassment, #MeToo, backlashes, etc:
1. Most men don’t assault or sexually harass women in the workplace.
2. But a small number of men are serial harassers
3. 3.And a larger number of men act in ways that can be subtly damaging to women’s career prospects and workplace happiness.
4. The small number of really bad male actors affect the workplace experience of a disproportionate number of women
5.Workplaces should have zero tolerance for groping, threats, quid pro quo demands for sex and assault
6. Assholes who do that kind of thing should be fired – and, in some cases, sued and/or prosecuted
7. Plenty of well-meaning men engage in more common, less egregious forms of sexist behavior: interrupting, mansplaining, stereotyping, unwanted flirtation, etc.
8. Those guys usually can and will change, when they become aware of what they are doing and how/why it can hurt their female colleagues
9. Motivation and knowledge matter. Decent men sometimes screw up.
10. When the behavior isn’t intentional, egregious and repeated, give men a chance to apologize and change
11.But not *too* many chances.
12. Most women who say they were harassed or assaulted are telling the truth
13. But men don’t have a monopoly on crazy
14. Occasionally, women exaggerate, misremember or just plain lie.
15. Employers, like juries, ultimately have to assess the credibility of various parties and make decisions accordingly
16. They should neither assume that all allegations are true… or assume that all allegations are false, just because they concern someone powerful and respected
17. Everyone has a right to earn a livelihood
18. But no one has a “right” to host a Sunday TV show, write for a major media outlet or serve in Congress
19. Cry me a river
20. Most American workplaces offer only “at will” employment.
21. As long as you’re not being fired for discriminatory reasons, your employer can fire you for any reason -- or no reason at all
22. You don’t like that? Get a union.
23. There’s nothing egregious about flirtation or expressing romantic interest in a colleague...
24. But sometimes workplace flirtations and relationships go south. As yourself: is it worth it?
25. Maybe.
26. But when workplace flirtations and relationships go south, usually it’s the less powerful person whose job suffers
27. Most of the time, those less powerful people are female
28. Power is invisible to those who have it
29. But power looks like Mount Everest to those who don’t have it
30. If you’re senior… more experienced…. Better known in your field…. Better paid… you’ve got power.
31. Use your power to make the workplace more equitable and inclusive. Or -- just don't be asshole, okay?
The end.
Postscript: and of course, by "don't be asshole," I mean "don't be AN asshole," unless you are a cave man, in which case I mean "don't be asshole."
and by the way:
washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-par…
washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-par…
