Sexual Harassment: Vague, Subjective, Slippery

Under the headline, "In Favor of Dirty Jokes and Risque Remarks," NYU journalism professor Katie Roiphe questions "the creative, capricious rubric of sexual harassment:"

The words used in workshops — ‘uncomfortable,’ ‘inappropriate,’ ‘hostile’ — are vague, subjective, slippery. Feminists and liberal pundits say, with some indignation, that they are not talking about dirty jokes or misguided compliments when they talk about sexual harassment, but, in fact, they are: sexual harassment, as they’ve defined it, encompasses a wide and colorful spectrum of behaviors.

[T]he majority of women in the workplace are not tender creatures and are largely adept at dealing with all varieties of uncomfortable or hostile situations. Show me a smart, competent young professional woman who is utterly derailed by a verbal unwanted sexual advance or an inappropriate comment about her appearance, and I will show you a rare spotted owl.

Surber: That Was Then, This is N.O.W.

Enlightening: Don Surber contrasts what was said by National Organization of Women president Patricia Ireland on April 2, 1998, concerning sexual harassment charges against Bill Clinton, and what NOW is saying today about charges against Herman Cain.