Coming Job Segregation?

The events surrounding O'Reilly has made me think that unless things change segregation, particularly between sexes, will become common in American labour.

I have no idea whether O'Reilly actually harassed any of the women that are accusing him of doing so, so this is not a defense of O'Reilly per se. From the blurbs I have heard thus far, no harassment has occurred. Now of course, I use the term harassment to describe unwanted behavior. And because I also require bad faith or bad intent on the part of the harasser, certain things, for me do not constitute harassment until the alleged harasser KNOWS that the behavior is unwanted.

So for example, O'Reilly is said to have commented on a black woman's looks while exiting an elevator. The comment in question being "looking good." How that comment in and of itself is harassment is beyond me. Did this woman dress up for her job to NOT look good? Of course the operating premise here is that if a man whom a woman has no sexual interest in, dares speak to her or make an advance on her, he is harassing her whereas if it is a man she IS interested in, then it is NOT. So generally speaking harassment can fall into whether a woman likes or dislikes you.

That's pretty dangerous for men and fertile ground for lawyers seeking rent.

As soon as O'Reilly was fired, I predicted he would return in the form of a podcast or Sirius station. I was proven correct. This is what Anthony Cumia did and it worked out very well for him. In fact a good deal of men who cannot make a living in the minefield that is left wing HR staffed corporations, are turning to self employment (which is why the recent actions by YouTube is problematic). Indeed the workplace is becoming so unsafe for heterosexual men with testosterone levels above 0, that it is safest to simply not interact with women at the workplace at all.

Again, all you have to do is see the example of "looking good". If a compliment can lead to HR actions, you sir, are fucked.

I often joke with certain coworkers that I'll be reporting them to HR after they say a comment that runs afoul of the so called anti-harassment rules. This includes comments about my clothes, looks, marital status or presumed religious affiliation. I have absolutely no intent on reporting anybody, but I just keep a mental tally of just how often HR *could* have been notified and somebody reprimanded or fired. The figure is quite high. As a matter of fact, if an accusation was all that was required, at least half of my co-workers would be fired. I'm not joking.

I'm talking discussions of dildos, S&M, cleavage, whistles and who could "get it".

Seriously.

In the interim I think that you're eventually going to see women's resume's heading to the round filing bin on the floor. This will be especially so with any woman with any gender studies degree or minor. Interviewers in the know will look out for key statements. These women will simply not get jobs. In places where these women make up a significant number of the workforce, particularly in tech, you will see walls go up between the men and women. Men with *significant* skills will either freelance or do as much "work from home" as is possible.

On a related note, I think that the O'Reilly event underscores another point: Do Not Settle! This goes along with the do not apologize for stuff you've said unless you are absolutely sure you were wrong. Part of what brought down O'Reilly was that his accusers could say, "look at all those settlements, why would you settle unless you had something to hide?"

Of course we know that companies often settle because it is less than the cost of litigation (particularly since it is highly unlikely the company can recoup legal costs from the plaintiff). On top of that the bad press is often not worth the effort. Thus a settlement is often not an indicator of guilt but rather a "convenient" way for the problem to go away. Here's the problem though. It seems that people who are under these agreements are talking. Personally I think those persons should be heavily sanctioned. If these settlements are going to become public and the entire point of limited media attention is gone, then we're left with the cost of litigation. I think it is best that these companies fight these charges wherever they appear to be false. Fire the bad actors, but if a complaint is, "someone called me hot chocolate" make them go to court. I for one am not awarding anybody shit for being called hot chocolate.

This is what happened to Ellen Pao. Everyone on the left thought (and still thinks) she had an airtight sex discrimination suit. Then the testimony came out and it was nowhere as clear. She lost her case. The defendants should have bankrupted her for that. I would have. When such accusations are made, they are looking to rob. This is theft while wielding a weapon. That weapon is the court.

Anyway, don't think there are not people out there saying, hmmm we can avoid sex/race discrimination complaints by not hiring... And if you, Black person find yourself the perpetual "spot" in a job, all those Black Lives Matter folks may be the reason why. After all, would you risk YOUR livelihood (your business) by hiring someone who is statistically likely to sue you at the drop of a perceived insult?