Making STEM a better place for women

[JesseK]

Originally Posted by Philip Arola

No. Just because you feel something is true does not make it so. Particularly with a charge of harassment, which is a something that has legislation governing it. You can feel uncomfortable, and ask them to stop. If they persist, this is harassment.

This is so (seemingly) curmudgeonly nit-picky about what something is or isn't, and yet we aren't trying to prosecute students but rather trying to teach them how to act in ways that do not completely offend someone. After some thought I remembered a particular conversation I had with a student a few years ago. There is a more relate-able definition that provides better evidence for why I believe the strict legal definition doesn't matter in most cases.

Take the HR definition of harassment. Depending on the level of innuendo the first offense can easily be a fireable one. Why? Depending on how the person on the receiving end feels it could become a hostile work environment.

The point you seemed to have missed from what Katie and Amanda were saying is that this "first offense" may be the first for the individual guy for a particular girl, but it is not the first for the girl over the course of the competition or career. Thus, in the context of a workplace (which our FRC programs should be) it is harassment since it is a hostile work environment if the girl on the receiving in feels that way.