Newsgroups: alt.romance,alt.romance.chat,alt.personals.ads,alt.personals
Subject: Re: Amendment 2
From: jsteiner@anwsun.phya.utoledo.edu (jason 'Think!' steiner)
Date: 9 Jan 93 23:19:06 EST
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thumim@nevada.edu (Scrooge McDuck) writes:
> jsteiner@anwsun.phya.utoledo.edu (jason 'Think!' steiner) writes:
> 
> >what's the problem with just telling the woman to piss off? a lot 
> >of sexual harrassment comes down to just that. i'm convinced that 
> >a lot of people are simply passive-aggressive. they'll put up with 
> >anything until they've got a chance to stick it to someone, then 
> >turn around and complain. whenever possible, stop the problem at 
> >the root. don't tolerate inappropriate behavior when it first 
> >happens. it's just like training a dog: punish 'em -immediately-, 
> >or they'll never learn.
> >
> >i'm not saying harrassment is the victim's fault, but i -do- 
> >believe there are defensive measures that would stop a lot of it 
> >before it went too far.
>
> Obviously you have never been sexually harrassed before.  People 
> have just one thing on their mind when they do this.  Regardless of 
> what you do or say, you will continue to be harrassed until you 
> take such drastic measures.

then take drastic measures. but do it -immediately-. as a matter of 
fact, i -have- been sexually harassed. i play a genre of online games 
known as "MUDs". there is a lot of roleplaying that goes on & many 
people treat them as mini-societies. i have played a few female 
characters, an experience that really opened my eyes to the amount of 
harassment that -does- go on. i have also seen it happen to other 
people on MUDs and in real life.

while playing on those MUDs, i used the following policy: if i saw 
harrassment taking place, i would first ask the object if they were 
being disturbed. (some people don't mind or simply ignore it & if -i- 
was the object i already knew.) if it was a problem i'd politely ask 
the harrasser to cease. if they didn't, i would then proceed to use
my programming skills to make life in virtual reality very hard for
the offender. in -every- case, the harrassment stopped. usually 'cause
they had just been the electronic equivalent of kicked in the balls.
even after it finished they were -much- more polite & soon left for
places that had easier targets.

now, RealLife(tm) and MUDs are not the same thing. MUD societies are 
much more "level" in that everyone has exactly the same capabilities. 
but i found that even there, with a level playing field, people were 
much more willing to -complain- about harrassment than -do- anything. 
every single time someone fought back, the problem ended.

my conclusion, as stated above, is that -whenever possible- (and it
isn't always & i extend my deepest sympathies to people who are in
a situation where coercion is being used) the problem should be 
immediately addressed.

jason

--
`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`
`,` "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can `,`
`,`  only exist until a majority of voters discover that they can vote  `,`
`,`  themselves largess out of the public treasury" - Alexander Tytler  `,`
`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,` jsteiner@anwsun.phya.utoledo.edu ,`,`,`
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