Eric Raymond has a post up about Linus never being alone at a Tech conference. Never. All conversations are witnessed. In particular, he is never with a women, in case there is an accusation of harassment or rape.
The environment is toxic. Men are adapting. HR policies regardless. Janet (Judgy Bitch) Bloomfield chipped in with this comment.
This is SOP for STEM/Biz profs, too. Never be alone with female students. Never mentor them. Never supervise a graduate thesis. A bad review/grade turns into a sexual harassment claim far too easily.
So women are shut out of the best mentor/supervisor relationships. Way to go, feminists.
We are heading back to the chaperone and the open door, and women being left without mentoring or career development. Because senior men don’t need the hassle of the investigation, and having a standard policy of never being alone with another is less hassle.
The cost of this to the company, the team, and the nation will come from somewhere. Perhaps it is better to bring back fraternities and clubs for men, and sororities and tea rooms for women.
This is SOP in the church, but not terrible there. Professionally, however – this isn’t going to go well.
I feel sorry for women who haven’t been taught how to have the poise and manner that makes the thought of impropriety impossible for all but total boors. There will always be situations when you’re thrown together alone with a member of the opposite sex – if only when the plumber comes!
But hey, enmity between men and women, that’s a GOOD plan, right? -rolls eyes- Let’s separate up into two camps there, just like we’ve separated into liberals/conservatives, country/city, etc ad nauseum. You can only trust your teammates, the Others are all evil. -headdesk-
You gentlemen are making the only sane choice, it’s the situation that makes me sad.
Yes, Yes, Yes.
I work with female colleagues I trust. I consider them to be akin to sisters. But you have to earn that.
If I feel that I am walking on eggshells around you, you have just lost. The trouble is that has to now be the default situation for all men at work, and it is affecting women. Because the TItle IX people are mad.
Having been in SAHM purdah for a while, I’ll tell you – NOT being around the opposite sex makes it weirder when you are.