Does The Workplace Overreact To Sexual Harassment Charges?

Q: i think the workplace is very sensitive to *any* form of sexual harassment accusations. There are several examples of this that I can think of, but I suspect that isn't what you are looking for. What kind of evidence are you asking for? I have a question. Do you or do you not think there is a heightened awareness of sexual harassment that has lead to overzealousness I was a bit unclear in making my opinion known. What I meant to say was that, IMHO, workplaces confronted with sexual harassment tend to overreact. I don't think that most workplaces experience sexual harrassment accusations let alone actual harassment

A: Funny -- I think most women experience sexual harassment in the workplace, but that complaints about it are rare. I've never seen any numbers that suggest otherwise -- have you? Not as a matter of routine. I suppose that it might happen upon occassion, but not nearly as often as cases in which women are afraid to report incidents of harassment, or cases in which the charges, although true, don't have any effect. But, with all due respect, you made the original claim, so I'd like to see your evidence. i can cite many cases of such overzealousness...but you've already said you don't think that proves anything. O.K. but it suggests something to me. I think that harassment is rare, and that the workplace is hypersensitive to any charges of that nature. You think that harassment is common, and that the workplace doesn't respond well when charges are made, right? Well, it seems that, in terms of number of cases, you would need more to suggest

anything than I would. We are both making our own judgements from personal experience and (I assume) from cases that we are aware of. I have my own personal experience, the results of a few surveys I heard discussed on NPR a while back (they indicate that over 50% of women in the workforce have experienced sexual harassment), and some tidbits from 9 to 5, as reported in today's paper. They report receiving about 25,000 calls to their hotline about sexual harassment. That's bound to be a fairly small sample of the total that occur. And, of course, the number of cases brought before the EEOC tripled from 1989 to 1994. Now, where's your evidence that it's rare?