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Originally Posted by MariOlsen
As a woman at a technical school, I've not experienced direct harassment.
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On the other hand, I have been told by friends that guys were acting creepily towards me even though I just interpreted it as social awkwardness (even though I was seriously avoiding some of them; major red flag). I was convinced that most of them would be mortified if someone told them they were being creepy or assumed they were romantically interested in me, but I've been wrong at least once and was called an ice queen for refusing to go to a dance with him.
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It's interesting how blurry the line can be between reasonable behavior and harassment. If you have guys who are creeping on you enough that you feel the need to avoid them, we're quickly sliding into harassment territory. If you turn someone down and get called names like "ice queen", it's definitely harassment, simply because the messge to females is "you're supposed to be nice." Btw, I'm going off the definition of harassment as "aggressive pressure or initimidation." Harassment need not be a repeated pattern. Sometimes it's a one-off action intended to demean.
As for relationships among team members, our team allows and has students who date, both in-team and cross-team. Our basic rule is "don't act in a way that tells everyone you're a couple."
Quote:
Originally Posted by MariOlsen
What about mentors hugging students (or students hugging mentors)? I feel like most people would say that mentors ought not to initiate a hug, but what about accepting one? I hug as a form of greeting if I feel comfortable with someone, but some of my mentors refused to let me hug them until I graduated. I understand that hugs may be misinterpreted and thus are probably best avoided, but it still makes me a bit sad.
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Our team is very conscious about appropriate mentor contact. Generally, mentors on our team don't do hugs. I did have one student hug me last year after a very emotional competition. It was brief and probably looked terribly awkward (I'm not a hugger to start) but, given the circumstances, I just rolled with it.