5 ms·

Ask HN: What can stop harassment in a workplace?

• mrits 10y ago
  There comes a point where regulations become a larger problem than what you are trying to regulate. We all have expectations to be trusted, innocent until proven guilty, and personal privacy respected. We will always have crime, prejudices, and wrongly convicted. Social changes can't be artificially rushed. Trying to bring backward middle eastern countries overnight into western civilization made things worse. It turned out dictators filled a gap they weren't ready to handle. Progress is on a very good trajectory. We could change absolutely nothing and still be better off.
  • urahara 10y ago
    I agree that it is impossible to suddenly jump to another level of civilization. But there should be ways to accelerate the process of moving in the right direction. I'd like to understand the landscape of these problems and what countries, companies and insividuals can do at their levels to contribute to accelerating positive changes.
    • meric 10y ago
      But there should be ways to accelerate the process of moving in the right direction. That's true on highways as well, but it's not safe there. What makes it safe here?
• bsvalley 10y ago
  I think we should start by defining the term "harassment". Most of the people don't know the exact definition. Is it a big smile? Is it talking too much to someone? Is it asking a question not related to work? Or is it about sexual words and gestures towards someone?
  • meric 10y ago
    > Is it a big smile? Is it talking too much to someone? Is it asking a question not related to work? How do we know when we're harassing someone, so we can stop? If we think someone hints we're harassing them, how to figure out which behaviours is causing their distress? If we can't figure out is it better to ask directly, which may be seen as intimation, or better to completely cut them off, which may be seen as punishment? Or is everything fine until we receive a direct confrontation?