Examples Of Sexual Harrasment

Q: Maybe this falls into an OT category these days, depends on how you feel about blatant and *horrific* sexual harrassment. I implore you to read the full article here and make up your own mind on whether to boycott: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35271-2002Jan24.html I'm going through the house with a fine-toothed comb and never buying Dial products again. This truly boggles the mind. How could they (Dial) let it continue for so long? Disgusting. Here are some snippets from the article, note the number of women testifying (more than 100). Simply mindboggling:

A: The EEOC suit accuses Dial of lacking effective policies to prevent harassment at its facility in Aurora, Ill. "It is . . . difficult to imagine a more malicious, reckless and ineffective response to sexual harassment than that exhibited by Dial for years," the agency said in a court filing. "Women were blamed for sexual harassment and soon learned that complaining about it would only make their lives more difficult. Harassment occurred in the presence of supervisors who did nothing, and supervisors themselves engaged in harassment. Discipline for sexual harassment was either nonexistent or ineffective." "Dial's paper sexual harassment policy was a pathetic joke," the filing added. "At one employee meeting to announce a Dial sexual harassment policy, a male employee felt free to begin yelling, 'Well, I'll tell you one [expletive] thing. Whoever turns me in and tries to cause me to lose my job is going to

lose theirs, too,' and the supervisor did nothing." The EEOC said that more than 40 supervisors and managers at the plant engaged in some form of sexual harassment, with many explicitly asking for sexual favors. The manager labeled Supervisor Harasser 29, for example, testified about how the company had sponsored a "best breast" competition in which a photographer went around the plant taking pictures of women's chests, posted them on a bulletin board and held a vote to choose the winner. It "was a motivation factor to try to keep the environment productive," Supervisor 29 told the EEOC. "It was trying to create an overall friendly productive environment."