Tim Walker’s Harassment

There’s been a lot of talk of harassment of late – problem is we live in a time where the term ‘harassment’ is so very open to interpretation.

The other problem is, regarding Roger Sutton’s CERA fiasco at least, often the only people who know the full story behind the aforementioned calamity are those directly involved in the scandal; so while us regular folk take that classic third party stance of casting premature judgments, aspersions, and veritable buttloads of excrement at whichever party we believe is most deserving of our derision, those people whose voices actually matter – those who know what went on – end up the least vociferous.

As will happen from time to time, once our media network climbs on board, the facts of a story become lost amid a pulsating sea of hyperbole and sensationalism.

As I understand it, sexual harassment is the persistent unwelcome directing of sexual remarks and looks, and unnecessary physical contact at a person, usually a woman, especially in the workplace. Yeah. That’s a pretty verbose definition and in fact my understanding is much more straightforward: it’s doing stuff that makes girls feel uncomfortable. In saying that, making a girl feel uncomfortable once is one thing, that can be construed as a mistake and one would hope that in this case the aggrieved would speak up before things became more serious; after which one would hope increasingly that the offender would have sorted himself out.

Of course if an employer or colleague’s actions are perceived as untoward yet no complaint is made then suddenly the victim decides to hit him with a ‘Sexual Harassment’ allegation, it might seem a little unfair to the accused. Conversely if this employer or colleague has been notified that their actions are unacceptable yet they continue to act in the same way, in my opinion the allegation is justified.

On the topic of ‘My Opinion’, I now hear this ‘victim’ might be entitled to compensation for grievances faced. That revelation made me chuckle. Thing is, when this supposed scandal first came to light, that was my exact thinking.

The truth is I don’t know what actually happened inside that Government funded office. What I do know is that working inside any variety of Government funded office must be powerfully tedious; moreover if this office space is devoid of affection or humour.

 

 

Article by Tim Walker

Edited by Prudence Ironbox

Photography by I La Scream

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