SEXUAL HARASSMENT!

I'm tackling this thorny subject while I'm thoroughly annoyed, fresh from having been told by a friend, a young woman that she is out of a job because of the unrelenting pressure of a fellow worker who just would not take "No!" for an answer.

Where do I start to deal with this? The Neanderthal man who is the villain of this piece does not seem to understand that the women with whom he works are there in the workplace because they have bills to pay, just as he does. They are not there to add colour and glamour to the place, nor are they there to be his playthings. They have a job to do, and incidentally so does he.

Grow up you moron! Leave the women in peace to do their jobs. What is wrong with you? I understand that you will want to look and admire, but respect the workplace for what it is.

This particular woman loved her job. It was her career and she was good at it. The harassment started innocently enough. She is adamant that she did nothing to encourage it because she was only too aware of the dangers of on-the-job romances. Whether she did or did not, anyway, she was already spoken for. But he was persistent.

The lady in question is overwhelmingly attractive, and I am sure that other men in the company thought highly and lustingly after her, but they kept their distance, as they should. Lothario, however, didn't know where to draw the line. This is were a very clear company policy about non-fraterization between employees would have helped.

When his persistence extended to unwelcome visits to her home she felt afraid for her safety. Eventually she approached the company to complain. Unfortunately her harasser was a key man in the company, although not her boss. The company took the easy way out and paid her a year's salary to leave while promising to talk to the offender about not re-offending in the future.

I think this particular man committed a crime and should be paying the penalty as we speak. Instead, it's his victim who is paying the price.

The biggest problem with workplace sexual harassment is that the most effective kind is that which is practised by those in authority and with power, the very people who should know better, and the very people who are supposed to protect the workforce.

Men! It is never a good idea to fish from the company wharf for love partners. Women, you make a grave mistake when you decide to enter into an intimate relationship with a male, or for that matter a female co-worker. It will end in tears and one of you will have to seek employment elsewhere. Of course you should both be penalised, but usually it's the woman who ends up getting screwed again.

If you know of someone who does this to the women at work, or, hopefully if you are a reformed harasser, I would love to hear from you. Should you be guilty of this behaviour I hope you will have the sense and sensibility to clean up your act. Otherwise, you imbecile, I hope that some woman sues your butt into the ground!

I can be contacted at eugene.spain@gmail.com

Copyright (c) 2007 - Eugene Carmichael

In these modern times, Do Women need men? Why?

This is the hot-button topic of the times. So let's get straight to our greatest concern: Lesbianism! They are all out of the closet and they are proud. "We are who we are, and we're not shrinking from it. Get over it!" they say defiantly. Maybe there have always been as many women around who love women, they just have not been so obvious. There is nothing else that will so quickly bring tears to the eyes of a man as being attracted to the finest, most beautiful woman he has ever seen, only to realize that she is attracted to another woman as fine as she. If she had eyes for another man that would mean competition. That we can do, but another woman and we're dead in the water.

Any man who has seen footage of two women at play knows how complete they are without us. Our sense of rejection is so totally complete and depressing. Really, we are being irrational. There is nothing to say that if both ladies were heterosexual that we as individuals would have stood a chance. It's just that it is so final when you see it like this.

We are hunter/gathers. We protect and provide. We are men. In today's world, because of economic pressures, both partners have to share those roles out of necessity. It follows that if women are to help us with our traditional roles, we surely must help out in the home. The modern enlightened man doesn't wait to be asked. Real men do whatever is necessary to best serve our family. When I'm home I usually have the time to do the shopping and other household chores. My wife usually doesn't because of her work, so what would be my excuse? I can't think of one either, so I just do it! No Big Deal!

Women in the professions earn significant salaries and are quite independent. Sometimes their earning power eclipses that of their male partner, and that can lead to all sorts of problems. With their wealth generation they can hire us guys to do the things that their husbands might have got around to doing one day. One more thing: women are always more in a commanding position to find a lover than a man.

It used to be that "nice" women did not go out to bars to meet people. The merits of that might be debatable, but now, because of the internet they don't have to.

Depressed yet? Cheer up, there's a very positive side to all this. We are probably seeing more of women who love women, but they have always been among us, we just didn't know. The good news is that for those women who do need men in their lives, the independent ones keep us because they truly do love us for who we are. They need us because we are cuddly, warm and loving. The bad side of that is that we have to work harder to earn our place in their lives by avoiding taking them for granted. It really is better to know that we are wanted because of the human being that we are, and not because we are an ATM cashpoint machine. Don't you think?

Got an man/woman issue you want us to discuss? E-mail me at eugene.spain@gmail.com
Let's network guys!

Copyright (c) 2007 - Eugene Carmichael

Men Under Assault

Today's man is a very confused person, and he has a right to be. Once upon a time he had it all his way. He was the master in commerce, politics, and in the home. He was undisputed lord and master. It was a man's world.

But, the times they are a-changing, and along with the changes men are going through a confusing, painful, and if we are truthful, a terrifying period of adjustment. We don't do adjustment well at all. We don't understand it when things change. We like having it like our dads had it. We like being in charge. We're comfortable with that role because it defined us and made us men. We fought great battles when other men sought to encroach on our territory, or when they came too close and familiar with "our" women.

If our forefathers had thought it through they would have realized that women were not going to put up with their lot forever. They would have seen that one day women would get their act together and that we, their sons would be left holding the bag to pay for their sins. They probably did think that way and concluded that if we couldn't take a joke, we should not have joined.

Men may not have the change lobe, but women have a double helping, ours and theirs. Sometimes it goes by another name, the "shopping lobe". A woman, by her very nature needs change. It is how she grows. She is ever restless and when she goes into one of her change phases all sorts of things get thrown out. That's when the men in their lives have to keep a low profile.

When women confront problems they network, an art form that they learn while still in the womb. They hear their mothers having long, heartfelt conversations with other women, and when they are born they ask their mothers, "who were all those people you had those personal conversations with. Their mothers explain the A-B-C-s of networking and another female is ready to do business. That's the way its been down throughout the ages, and so it continues.

Men, my brothers, it's time we learned how to do this with our personal problems. We are very expert at it with our business problems, so we know that it works. We need two things to make life easier in this regard, and they are, (1) we need to know that it is a sign of strength, not weakness to share the problem so that the solution comes easier, and, (2) we need a neutral and anonymous meeting place in which to conduct these discussions. This is the Lifestyle Meeting Place, and we're raring to go.

Join right in and let me know if there is a topic you would like me to place on the table for discussion. You may e-mail me at eugene.spain@gmail.com. I would be delighted to hear from you.


Copyright (c) 2007 - Eugene Carmichael