Another case of “she dressed and behaved in a provocative manner”

It seems nothing really changes.

Chestnut

MissAdventure

I was just imagining the kind of workplace where the disciplinary procedure was done by smacking.

John Wayne would be the boss with Maureen O'Hara as his secretary. I've seen him put her over his knee a few times! 🙈

If it was staged in Ireland it would be the film"The quiet man', which John Wayne drags Maureen O'Hara along. I've actually been to Ballinrobe where it was filmed. the locals were really proud of it

No excuse for the male behaviour but some women just do not understand what might be “provocative”.
We had a 40 something, very senior civil service manager who would turn up for conferences in a low cut flimsy dress that showed her cleavage and left little else to the imagination.
When approached by a more senior female colleague she said that she didn’t see why this was not the most appropriate thing to wear and continued to dress in that way and to flirt with all the males. The rest of the female staff, both young and old, disapproved and said that any sexual harassment she might experience would be her own fault.

Remember those days when women used to give men like this a slap in the face?

annab275 - that was first thought too.

sorry - that was My first thought too.

Just wish I'd been given £90k for each time I'd had my backside slapped or been groped in a lift or an office by a boss not to mention the inappropriate comments.
I think years ago we dealt with such events ourselves and made sure they didn't happen again although in no way do I condone this behaviour nor do I think it matters one iota how the woman in question was dressed etc.

Quizzer

No excuse for the male behaviour but some women just do not understand what might be “provocative”.
We had a 40 something, very senior civil service manager who would turn up for conferences in a low cut flimsy dress that showed her cleavage and left little else to the imagination.
When approached by a more senior female colleague she said that she didn’t see why this was not the most appropriate thing to wear and continued to dress in that way and to flirt with all the males. The rest of the female staff, both young and old, disapproved and said that any sexual harassment she might experience would be her own fault.

Hmm.... We had a similar tarty woman at one office I worked at and no amount of asking/telling got her to cover her belly/backside cleavage(!?) Complete with cheese string thongage, in the office! So. Me being the most experienced mater there, I was asked if I had any ideas? "Yes I do" sez I.
I sidled up to her and quietly whispered to her that ,ahem- did she realise that a glimpse of a skid mark was showing on her backside?!? Cover-up a go-go ensued!!, she was ossified and SO upset and couldn't thank me enough, she cried in the bogs for about half an hour then went home "Ill". Brutal? No. Dishonest? Meh. Effective? Yep. I've done it with B.O. /smelly breath/cheesy smell/you name the awful embarrassing thing ,I've cited it! These methods work with males and females, cheap looking clothes/ makeup/ corned beef thighs etc are offensive in any office, and nobody likes to think they smell of fish innit? Fight overinflated egos with a suitably sharp pin!

BBC has turned into the daily rag! Appalling reporting of a damning incident! The offender and all those who sided with the piece of....should be named shamed and others warned of his revolting behaviour . It really DOES start with ' harmless banter' it WILL escalate to serious assault left unchecked. What he did was a physical and sexual assault and I fail to see it as anything else?? I'm afraid if the lass was my daughter, I'd think of an equally damaging reprisal for chummy....

said that any sexual harassment she might experience would be her own fault.

Ohh look! It's 1860!!

I had a boss who would continually tell me that he’d just had sex with me in his head.
I would give him my best raised eyebrow look and say and that’s where is going to f***##g stay, in your head

In one work place a younger man touched me up. This was in the 70s when we wore those platform clogs. I didn’t think about it I just spun round and kicked him so hard he dropped to the floor.
He was lucky that I didn’t follow my fathers advice to us girls: kick em where it hurts.

MerylStreep

I had a boss who would continually tell me that he’d just had sex with me in his head.
I would give him my best raised eyebrow look and say and that’s where is going to f***##g stay, in your head

In one work place a younger man touched me up. This was in the 70s when we wore those platform clogs. I didn’t think about it I just spun round and kicked him so hard he dropped to the floor.
He was lucky that I didn’t follow my fathers advice to us girls: kick em where it hurts.

Fine back in the 20th century, but these days you might be beaten to a pulp if you hit a man. Not a good idea now.

Yeah I agree Chestnut he would be taking you to court .
This boss in NI sounds a real dick. Thought that sort of behaviour had gone away.
That said I’d accept a slap on the arse for much less than 90,000.

I don't understand why the woman did not immediately report the matter to the police as assault, pure and simple.

Why should it be acceptable for a manager to slap an adult on the bottom when children may no longer legally be spanked?

And of course, she should have involved her union and her shop steward in the matter at once.

She may, of course, have done so and the reporter left these details out feeling they would detract from the story.

This kind of reporting and incidents of this sort are not going to stop before the victims of them report these cases immediately to a competent authority.

And a competent authority is not other mangagers or supervisors in a firm that apparently countenances this kind of behaviour.

How the woman was dressed either on the occasion mentioned or at any other time is not relevant in the slightest.

She has been physically assaulted in her place of work. This is the issue that needed to be addressed,

Many years ago when taking a class of German electricians in English as they were being sent to Canada, I found them rather a strain due to laddish behaviour and comments. A fellow teacher told me they had a bet on. The first man to make me blush won a bottle of whisky.
There followed 3 weeks of rather childish laddishness that due to brothers, didn’t upset me at all.
At the end of their course, I asked that seeing as no one had managed to make me blush, did I win the whisky.
Each individual man reached into their briefcases and walked in turn to me, clutching a red rose. Kissing my hand than my cheek. I stood there blushing like mad.
Now tell me this? Should I have reported them for sexual harassment when they first started asking me the correct English to ask if the women were available, or if I thought men in tight trousers were preferred by women or……… Etc etc
Or was my way better? Better????
By ignoring it.
Incidentally if any of them had touched me then I would have clouted him

Is there such a thing as "appropriate dress" nowadays. Hear and read of so many tales that if an employer comments on a person's dress, male and especially female they are being judgemental and often sexist. It would be a brave employer that would comment on an employees dress unless there was a danger within their employment. O excuse for the behaviour in the reported article though.

In the 80s I worked in a shoe shop where you had to measure and fit their shoes. A man came every Saturday to peek down the girls fronts while they were tying his shoe laces. I went to him one day with slip ons and told him to try his own shoes on and that we all knew what he was at. He left red faced, never to return. I was just thankful my male boss was in total agreement and that I didn't get the sack for speaking to a customer so rudely. No one should be made to feel uncomfortable in their workplace by letches.

annab275

Remember those days when women used to give men like this a slap in the face?

Yep I remember those days. Been there, done that several times, and it worked!

I don't understand why the woman did not immediately report the matter to the police as assault, pure and simple.

I think people often forget that an incident in a workplace can be a crime just the same as anywhere else.

One office I worked in many years ago had a chief clerk who would call you up to his office on some sort of pretext. One of the first things I was told was to always carry a file of papers with me and hold it over my chest with arms crossed over the top and that way when he put his arm around me to walk me out of the office he couldn't grope any side boob. There were men in the office too who knew what was going on and would remind me to take the papers with me but none of them would dare approach the boss.

Im not surprised (sadly) that no one would approach the boss. He probably was as aware of this sexual harassment query indecent assault as everyone else.
Another reason not to report the behaviour is the response of posters who eg say they’d accept a smack in the bottom form£90 000. Totally minimising

Iam64 Are you saying you would turn down £90k?

Chestnut, I’m saying this woman wasn’t given the compensation because of one incident of a smacked bottom. I think you know that

Awful headline.
Sexual harassment used to occur in almost every job, I called it out but I shouldn’t have had to.
I think people should dress appropriately for a job, who want to look at stomachs and knickers. I wouldn’t like a man turning up in Haiwian shorts and flip flops. You employ people to represent the company and do a job, as an employee I ask to be treated with respect in good conditions and paid well.

There are all sorts of things that people should do in the workplace, but the point, for those missing it, is that the penalty for not doing them should never be corporal punishment.

The £90k wasn't just compensation for pain and humiliation, but, presumably, for loss of earnings whilst the assaulted women found a new job.