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Please don't take this as an excuse for sexual harassment, but: As a manager, I wouldn't go on a beach/bikini/swimsuit trip with my team, and certainly not one
by kzhahou 12y ago
Please don't take this as an excuse for sexual harassment, but:
As a manager, I wouldn't go on a beach/bikini/swimsuit trip with my team, and certainly not one with large amounts of alcohol (which wasn't necessarily part of the story posted). So many reasons:
* I don't WANT the people who report to me to see my pale un-muscled body. Or the people above me!
* I don't want to accidentally glance at someone and make them feel uncomfortable.
* I don't want to get so loose and comfortable (cue alcohol) around my team that I forget the role I must play as a leader.
I recently declined the opportunity to go on a boat beer bash, just to maintain the proper professional relationship (and these were peers in the org).
- detcader 12y agoI agree. I would have removed myself from the situation.
- geofft 12y agoThere is an excellent argument to be made that the prevalence of alcohol in American work culture is weird and stupid. Partly because it fuels sexual harassment, partly because it pressures people who don't or can't drink, and partly because really, the purpose of alcohol in a social context is to suspend your self-control at least a little bit, why would you want that at work? Relatedly, see also https://medium.com/@betsythemuffin/drinkups-are-rape-culture-29ea1546e91d https://medium.com/@betsythemuffin/drinkups-are-rape-culture...
- meowface 12y agoNot saying you're right or wrong, but aren't there dozens of cultures across the world where where alcohol plays a much, much bigger role in work culture? The UK and Japan, for example.
- geofft 12y agoYeah, "US" is just what I'm familiar with and what the topic of the story is. I wanted to be precise (because people do rightly criticize folks who complain about US-only culture problems as if they're universal) but was too precise. :)
- Rapzid 12y agoAustralia and New Zealand. The US just happens to be the country where the occasional sexually motivated comment generated by mixing bathing suites, bikinis, alcohol, and men and women is shocking.
- 1ris 12y agoI hear in finish work culture going to the sauna (obviously naked and sex mixed) and getting wasted together are somewhat common. Haven't heart much that this leads to harassment. I all come down to weather people are assholes or not, not weather they drink.
- thomasahle 12y agoI think a large group of people would really like their workplace to be more social.