John Derbyshire asks, “Is there anyone who thinks sexual harassment is a real thing? Is there anyone who doesn’t know it’s all a lawyers’ ramp, like racial discrimination? You pay a girl a compliment nowadays, she runs off and gets lawyered up. Is this any way to live?”
The answer to Mr. Derbyshire’s question is yes, there are lots of people who believe sexual harassment is a real thing. Does that mean that every case of sexual harassment is legitimate? Of course not. Nor does it mean that the term isn’t elastic and can’t be abused. But to argue that sexual harassment simply doesn’t exist – that every claim is always wrong — is a ridiculous statement. (Some of the women who experienced the predatory charms of America’s 42nd president could give you a pretty good definition of sexual harassment.)
You might ask what kind of person would go out of his way to say such a thing? Perhaps the kind of person who would proudly declare “I don’t care about Egyptians” after learning that in 2006 around 1,000 Egyptians had perished in a tragic ferry accident at sea.
I understand the irresistible temptation it is for some people to say things simply for shock value. (I have a teenager and I know other teenagers.) And some people, on the right as well as the left, fancy themselves as edgy and transgressive. They say certain things because they think it’s provocative and intrepidly non-PC. In fact, it amounts to little more than a childish approach to public discourse. Most of the time these things are worth ignoring. But once in a while they’re worth highlighting, if only to remind ourselves that imbecilic statements aren’t the exclusive province of any single ideology.
I remember when sexual harrassment laws were originally enacted, they were specifically addressing situations where a man in power used the privileges of power (raises, promotions, etc.) to exact sexual favor. No sooner than these laws went into effect, sexual harrassment expanded to co-worker relationships and then became any unwanted male behavior towards females, based on the discretion of the female. Hennepin County, in which Minneapolis is located, went as far as including characterizing a man looking at a women too long as sexual harrassment. n nDerbyshire tends to be a bit tongue in cheek and this is obviously an example, while Wehner employs the specious tactic (so popular with Leftists) of taking his point to the ridiculous extreme in order to debunk it. In reality, sexual harrassment claims are far more abused than righteous as any man with a healthy sex drive can tell you. n nBut then the laws have had the desired effect and even very courteous men with healthy sex drives are now subject to a host of social and legal complications that leaves only aggressive females with the right to express themselves.
I'm with John Derbyshire on this one. While of course it's true that predatory misbehavior fairly described as sexual harassment does occur, the term has been expanded to encompass behavior that is merely insensitive, crude or socially inept. Consider the case of Clarence Thomas. Even if you believed every word utterd by Anita Hill (I didn't), what was Thomas supposed to have done? He asked her out repeatedly before finally taking no for an answer, and he made a couple of off-color remarks. In all honesty, was that something that demanded the high drama (or low comedy) we witnessed in the course of Thomas' confirmation hearing? n nMaybe Herman Cain did do something terrible enough to justify a charge of sexual harassment. But I must say, despite my doubts about him as a candidate, that if the offense alleged against him amounts to "inappropriate behavior" (whatever that may mean), conservatives should defend him. Not becausewe necessarily support him, but because we have principles.
Derb was being deliberately provocative. His point, however, stands. Other than quid pro quo situations, this area of the law is, to put not too fine a point on it, crap. Tort bar, lawyer driven crap that conflates morality with legality and infantilizes women. We were better when a woman confronting a pig was allowed to slap him in the face.
BTW Peter, if memory serves me correctly, the last time you took on Derb, he slapped you around pretty hard in his reply. I am looking forward to what he has in mind this time, but I suspect he might let this one go. I hope not; the entertainment value of your grudge match with him is very high.
When companies are setting aside 50 grand just for sexual harassment suit so they can quickly offer 20 grand to dismiss the allegation, there's something very wrong.
"the term has been expanded to encompass behavior that is merely insensitive, crude or socially inept." n nI agree. We have expanded the term sexual harassment to the point it is no longer recognizable as a real thing, and I take personal offense to this as a bona fide victim of sexual abuse. I do believe sexual harassment exists and that we need criminal and civil laws to protect people from it, but we've failed to do it properly. It has been taken over by our hyper-PC culture.
Cain's behavior–the shifting and contradictory explanations and rationales (occasionally duking it out in the same PR sentence) are what point to some kind of vulnerability–not the charges in and of themselves. The argument for defending confirmed inappropriate behavior admittedly goes over the head of this old pooch. The Jewish adage that people's evaluations of ethical responsibility all too often depend on "whose ox is being gored" is a cautionary warning not heartily recommended advice.
Dear B: Can you explain again? I've read your post twice and I don't really understand what you're saying.
Cain has been all over the map–and cumulatively what he has said doesn't make sense and he and his team haven't avoided contradicting themselves in consecutive explanations, sentences, or random thoughts. We've heard that this whole thing was news to them, anonymously sourced unbelievable charges out of the gate (in 2011), then we've heard that, well, they did know from Politico some details and thinking about things they recall this and recall that. Then we hear that they knew about this in a Senate run in 2003 and Cain discussed the allegation (of one woman) with a guy who later became a Perry staffer (today). n nThen some folks say well this is a put up job by the left and so we should defend "inappropriate behavior" if it falls short of intimidating harassment to make some conservative point and defend our team from the opposition team. n nWhy? No we don't need to defend inappropriate behavior because it is our guys and not, picking randomly, Clinton or Ted Kennedy (negligent homicide) or Weiner. n nThe adage about the ox refers to legal judgements regarding injury from or to livestock in the Talmud, the Jewish code of ritual, civil, and criminal law, developed by rabbinic commentators. The problem is that we tend to view the law through a prism of self-interest and so we say we are talking about the "objective facts of the case" but all too often we are very heavily influenced–specifically (and generally)–by whether it is our own oxen who were injured or who were claimed to cause injury to others–we do take into consideration "whose ox is gored"–our own private interests.
Thanks very much for explaining. I appreciate your thoughts.
Most of what I've read from conservatives on this issue is anger at the media double-standard for covering such stories. That and the lack of details that would allow readers to make up their own minds about how inappropriate even the alleged behavior can be labeled. n nWithout details of what he is accused of, how can I judge his behavior?
Mr Wehner, you have (I suspect) never heard the Two Ronnies* joke, delivered during their 'news' segment at the start of the show: There's a plane crash, and it's newsworthy because 3 Englishmen died in it, and another crash, which is relatively unimportant because only 1 Englishman died in it, and he was half Scottish. (I'm basically making it up a zillion years later, but you get the drift.) n nDerb was making the same point, that we love best and identify best with those we know: it's a feature of human nature known to political philosophy as 'love of one's own'. I think that's all he really meant. n nAs for harassment by men that feel entitled, Clinton is old news, now that we have DSK…. n n*English 1970s TV comedy show, featuring the late Ronnie Barker and the lovely still extant Ronnie Corbett.
New thought: is there such a thing as 'predatory charms'? I would say not. As a woman, I've certainly never encountered them. Charms, lovely. Predatory: slam the door and/or call the police. n nAlso, I suspect that 'sexual harrassment' was a lot 'realer' about 40 years ago when some men in power thought they could indulge in it. Now that small businesses won't even let a man and a woman work alone together in a room for fear of lawsuits, I think that the chances of employer/work-based harassment are probably vanishingly small.