The Backlash! - December 1997

We know how Feminists have been using Sexual Harassment cases to their advantage. When a man and a woman are up for the same promotion, is it really below a woman’s standards to call in her Trump card by accusing the man of sexist behavior? And, if it’s OK for a woman, then what about a man?

We recently had such a turn of events at my company, where a man, (call him Fred), was in the storeroom looking for some supplies. The Office Manager, (call her Beth), saw him, and asked him if he saw "anything he wanted." Fred, being cursed with the sick, twisted sense of perverse humor to be found in all Male Chauvinist Pigs, looked at Beth for a moment, and replied, "Now I do!" With a smile. Fred was immediately suspended for three days without pay.

According to the "Reasonable Woman" standard, this is a blatant case of Class 2 Sexual Harassment, and Beth had every right in the world to complain if she felt offended by it, but the fact is, she didn’t! The complaint was, in fact, lodged by a male supervisor, (call him Bruce) who happened to witness the act.

It can be argued that Bruce, being a supervisor (although neither in Fred’s nor Beth’s department), would be held accountable to do something immediately to stop the harassment. He did not personally take charge of the situation, however, and decided to report it directly to the HR department. During the next few days, everyone in the entire company (with the exception of Bruce’s department), had to attend a seminar on Harassment sponsored by the local branch of PACE.

So far, this all seems to be on the up and up, albeit a bit extreme, and we applaud Bruce for his quick thinking act of sensitivity and understanding to his fellow workers, but allow me to cast my jaundiced eye upon the situation.

Bruce, it should be noted, is under scrutiny for his managerial skills (or rather the lack thereof). During the past year, his department has turned over more people than it has positions to fill. The primary complaints upon the exit reviews are always the same, something on the order of "Bruce is an inconsiderate moron who expects me to carry his sorry ass and make him look good." With so many similar complaints, the HR department is actually interviewing Bruce’s current staff.

In short, Bruce’s butt is on the line, and he knows it. He saw the "harassment" deal as an opportunity to polish his tarnished reputation, and if it cost a fellow employee three days pay and a lot of embarrassment, so what? The important thing is that in the end, Bruce came out smelling like a rose.

The moral of the story, my friends, is that while we all must keep an eye on the feminists and how they take advantage of us, remember that not all of them are women!

Of course, I can’t let this go without the wry twist of irony I find so amusing.

Two weeks after all this happened, Beth quit, after making a complaint of harassment to Bruce himself. It seems that Bruce’s assistant supervisor had been warning everyone, especially the new employees, to "Look out for that Beth, she’s a real Bitch!"

We’re still waiting for Bruce to do something about it.

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