Can we cool it with the ridiculous derailment about which gender is or isn't more likely to be a victim or a perpetrator of sexual harassment? We don't need screams of "NOT ALL MEN ARE LIKE THAT" every time we ever talk about an issue that involves gender. Yes, it's possible for a woman to sexually harass a man too. Are we done now?
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Originally Posted by wireties
Making FIRST-wide rules about mascots seems premature and a little too PC at this juncture.
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How many reported incidents of sexual harassment does it take for rules about mascots to stop being premature and "PC"?
I'm sure that this kind of thing happens far more often than it is reported. To a victim, reporting something like this can seem embarrassing or worse, pointless. There is a perceived stigma against "creating drama" on many teams and in many cases the victim may pay a social penalty of sorts for coming forward, particularly if the perpetrator was well liked and had many friends on the team.
We need to do more than just be reactive to cases of harassment - we need to be proactive. Teams need to make sure their mascots and the rest of their team knows that no means no and to NEVER touch someone else unprompted or otherwise without consent. In the cases where this sort of thing is reported, we need absolutely zero tolerance for this behavior. The student should be removed from the team and the venue (by team managment preferably). We simply can't afford to allow FIRST to be a place where anyone feels violated or otherwise unsafe (not in the "safety glasses" sense).
Just a week ago we were all scratching our heads about how we could make robotics more welcoming to women. Pretty much the least welcoming thing we could do is be complicit with harassment. Even isolated incidents can drive a student away for good, or worse, leave them with emotional trauma. While I'm not suggesting we would be able to prevent all cases of harassment, if we establish a visible and firm culture of respect, consent, and boundaries, people will be less hesitant to speak out when these situations do happen.