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“Don’t Blush Baby”: Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

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Submitted by Felicia Browne, Human Rights Advocate
Submitted by Felicia Browne, Human Rights Advocate

Sexual harassment is a form of workplace bullying. Workplace bullying is verbal, physical, social or psychological abuse by an employer, employee, colleague (or manager), or another person or group of people at work. […]

Workplace bullying can happen in any type of workplace, from offices to shops, cafes, restaurants, workshops, community groups and government organisations. According to the United Nations General Recommendation 19 to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (UN, 1992), sexual harassment includes: unwelcome physical contact, verbal remarks and sexual advances. Sexual harassment in the workplace may involve a demand for sex in return for a job benefit or other actions that create a hostile, humiliating or intimidating working environment for the victim.

Read full text of  – “Don’t Blush Baby”: Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

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199 responses to ““Don’t Blush Baby”: Sexual Harassment in the Workplace”

  1. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    Ouuufff….that was too long and repetitive. It covered too much. What about the growing area of same gender issues when the target is someone of the same sex but who has different sexual preferences? Violence is a slightly different, but equally important issue. if only because the violence may not have sexual over/under tones. Somebody can beat the crap out of another without sexual violence.

  2. Well Well & Consequences2 Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences2

    In this case Gayle has to learn some decorum, even the female involved said she did not want it blown out of proportion and just wanted to move on, but obviouly felt uncomfortable with Gayle’s attention. Dude needs to tone it down and just enjoy his status and achievements, the Caribbean is filled with very beautiful exotic women, he need not make it appear he’s trolling or always thirsty and hopefully he treats these Caribbean women with respect.. not all women see themselves as notches, don’t care how wealthy or famous the male..

    He does have a well known reputation and Ian Chappell wants to milk it for all it’s worth, maybe because it is known about Allen Sandford’s wife and the Gayle brouhaha and Chapell is taking it personally. However, the other alledged incident about the female in the Australian dressing room is reported a lie made up from some female looking for some fame and money, that is what happens when you make yourself vulnerable. Eg Kobe Bryant.

    Either the dude modifies his behavior toward females, am sure he has a mother, sister, aunt, cousins, maybe even a daughter and would not want them disrespected or treated as an object. If he continues in the same vein, seeing as he is now has everyone’s attention and has made himself an an international target, all the slugs will come crawling from under their rocks and he will then know the true meaning to the word set up.

  3. Weston Avatar
    Weston

    “not all women see themselves as notches”

    I think that should read as “very few women see themselves as notches”.

  4. TheGazer Avatar
    TheGazer

    It is possible that what we saw is a difference of culture. Some men will have to learn that what may pass as normal in the Caribbean is viewed as harrassment in other areas of the world

  5. Bernard Codrington. Avatar
    Bernard Codrington.

    Why are we continuing with this issue ?The man has been fined. He has been chastised . Time to move on. This is a non issue in gender affairs. He responded to her using the idiom of his culture and in jest. I am sure he did not view her as an object but as a beautiful woman. It was an indiscretion .Leave it where it is.

  6. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    If a man asks a woman a question once and she says “no” and he lets it drop there he has NOT harassed her. In order for the behaviour to be harassment it has to be pressing and persistent.

  7. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    Dear Felicia:

    You are writing for a blog not an academic journal.

    For example when writing for lay people NEVER say conflagration when what you mean is fire.

    Before you submit ask yourself if you grandmother can read your essay with ease and with pleasure.

    If not rewrite again and again until granny likes it.

  8. Jeff Cumberbatch Avatar
    Jeff Cumberbatch

    @Simple Simon, A harassed is not always permitted one”bite”. There are some approaches so crude that any reasonable person would know that these wold be unappreciated. That amounts to harassment.

  9. David Avatar
    David

    Please note Felicia submits her pieces to regional media outlets.

    On 13 January 2016 at 09:07, Barbados Underground wrote:

    >

  10. Well Well & Consequences2I Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences2I

    Besides, if that was one of Gayle’s pickup lines it was corny, am sure the reporter first heard “don’t blush baby” when she was 13 years old and recognized it for what it was intended. Regardless, too many men believe that it’s their jungle nature responsible for their libidos and following actions, not true, they are responsible for their own behavior.

    Ironically, what too many men don’t know is that they stand a better chance if they don’t pursue too aggressively. Males in the Caribbean may want to start enlightening their sons and other male relatives to that fact at an earlier age instead of telling them the opposite, it would save a lot of grief later..

  11. SuckaBubby Avatar
    SuckaBubby

    Outside of the Gayle issue maybe some women need to stop sexualizing the workplace in the guise of freedom of expression in dress, mannerisms and speech.If you want the ants to stop coming in the larder try keeping the sugar bowl under a cover.

  12. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    @Jeff Cumberbatch January 13, 2016 at 5:07 AM “A harassed is not always permitted one”bite”. There are some approaches so crude that any reasonable person would know that these wold be unappreciated. That amounts to harassment.

    True. But I was talking about the ordinary approaches such as “do you want to eat breakfast, lunch or dinner with me or do you want to go to cricket, or the cinema or a pork lime with me”

    With those approaches a simple “yes” or “no” should settle the matter.

    I was not talking about truly crude approaches such as a former colleague who came up behind a female colleague’s chair, took out his penis and when she turned her head to see you was behind her chair found that his penis was an inch or so from her face and he was asking “you want summa dis?”

    She did not.

    Reported him to management.

    He lost his job.

    He should have lost something else in addition.

    Fool.

  13. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    @SuckaBubby January 13, 2016 at 11:29 AM “women need to stop sexualizing the workplace.”

    Look suckabubby>. Don’t know why you are not weaned yet.

    But even if a woman has previously had as many men as the Grand Old Duke of York.

    No still means no.

    End of story.

  14. Well Well & Consequences2I Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences2I

    Don’t know about that, when you see temptation, you can also pretend the female is your mother or sister, or wife, that should instantly cool the libido….have you never heard of self control.

  15. chad99999 Avatar
    chad99999

    Most Western women have become tiresome predators, seeking male attention when it suits them, but quick to exploit any opportunity to take advantage of reckless men, and rip them off if they have deep pockets.
    The definitions of “sexual harassment” and “rape” have become infinitely elastic. Gayle should know by now how to adjust his behaviour when visiting these feminist societies. God forbid that the Caribbean should ever allow these foolish ideas to take hold.

  16. TheGazer Avatar
    TheGazer

    Essentially ,you are blaming the women. Just a long way of saying “They asked for it”.

  17. TheGazer Avatar
    TheGazer

    ‘ God forbid that the Caribbean should ever allow these foolish ideas to take hold.’
    Someone put it nicely earlier. Imagine these women were your mother or sisters. More besides our politics need fixing.

  18. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    But Gazer the women being harassed ARE your mothers, daughters, sisters, granddaughters etc.

  19. SuckaBubby Avatar
    SuckaBubby

    No you missed the point.Some women oversexualize the workplace.Thats a fact and even indulge weaker men and women to participate in it.So much so some feel entitled to harass others who have no interest in it.Work place ethics requires communal responsibility.Dont shift the blame to thirsty men alone.Thats done away with.

  20. TheGazer Avatar
    TheGazer

    Does a serial harasser think in that manner? I think the answer is no. We have to make them see women as more than a potential conquest.

  21. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    Dear chad99999 and Gazer:

    I myself as a modestly dressed 20 year old Christian church going virgin was sexually harassed by a 60 something male supervisor (the father in law of my excellent parish priest who had written me an excellent reference) way back in the 1970’s. I did not want this man’s attention, penis nor money. Not then. Not now. I did NOTHING to attract his attention. For security reasons a minimum of 2 people had to be in the office at all times. I would be scared when I had to remain in the office with him. I took to locking myself in the women’s washroom whenever I found myself in the office alone with him.

    I wanted NOTHING from this man. I received NOTHING from this man. I did not want his attention, his money, his penis. NOTHING.

    We the women who have been sexually harasser and who are being sexually harassed are your am your mothers, wives, daughters, sisters, daughters in law, granddaughters, great grand daughters.

    I am an ordinary Bajan woman.

    Go home now and have a REAL conversation with the women in your life. Your great grandmother, grandmother, mother, wife, daughter, sister, daughter in law, granddaughter, great grand daughter. Listen to them. Do not shout them down, just because your voice is bigger and louder, and just because you are bigger and stronger.. You may be shocked at the truths you will hear.

    And this is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God.

  22. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    @SuckaBubby January 13, 2016 at 11:29 AM “If you want the ants to stop coming in the larder…”

    But you are not an ant a tiny insect with virtually no brain, and which acts on instinct alone.

    You are an adult human being.

    With a big brain.

    Capable of reasoning.

    Intelligent enough to sit on a jury and reach REASONABLE decisions.

    Intelligent enough to stand for elected office.

    Intelligent enough to make decisions on behalf of hundreds of thousands of other people.

    YOU ARE NOT AN ANT.

    YOU ARE NOT A DOG.

    You are an adult human being fully capable of making REASONABLE decisions.

  23. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    My aunt who at the time was over 70 continued to wear her wedding ring even though she had been divorced from her husband for more than 20 years, and even though he had been dead for more than 10. She told me she wore the wedding band because it seemed to make men less likely “to bother” her on the bus. My aunt had extremely large breasts. She did not ask for extremely large breasts. She did not have them surgically implanted. Some people have large breast because that is their genetic heritage. Large breasts are not an invitation for strange men to sexually harass a woman when she is on the public bus.

    She only stopped wearing the ring when she had a stroke and became a shut in. A woman should not need to get a stroke to stop men from bothering her.

  24. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    My dear friend a medical professional who worked in Saudi Arabia for decades has had a man expose his penis to her in a public place. All she was doing was walking to the market to buy her groceries. Even though she is not a Muslim, she was as Saudi law requires wearing the full length black gown, called the chador, and a headscarf to cover her hair. She was at the time older than 50.

    Fully clothed adult women are sexually harassed too. Yes even in the birthplace of Islam.

    Even now Syrian women refugees wearing full length gowns and head scarfs are being sexually harassed.

    All these woman want is the freedom to live in peace and to raise their children in peace.
    Even while fleeing for their lives should they have to fend off unwanted sexual attention, including rape?

  25. Well Well & Consequences2I Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences2I

    Not so, unfortunately they do and even then there is no guarantee a stroke would be a deterren if one of them thnk theý are iñ a bind. One female I know walks with a cane due to injuries suffered but looks great for her age at 60, mother of grown children, grandmother of 6, is shocked that from old men to young boys her grandsons age and younger would try to proposition her. Obviously she feels vulnerable, but wièlds a wicked nìne for protection and any upcoming attacks. Women are vulnerable.

    http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/exclusive-mount-sinai-doc-accused-ejaculating-patient-article-1.2496055

    I shared this on another thread because of how covert and vicious the attack, but these threats are real. Some men just talk, but others act.

  26. TheGazer Avatar
    TheGazer

    Sorry to hear your story. It seems as if what I wrote was misread.
    Let me put it in a very simple manner.
    Women should be free to move in our society without the fear of being harassed. That was my position from the very start.

  27. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    No means no.

    Back off.

  28. TheGazer Avatar
    TheGazer

    @Simple Simon
    I cut and pasted a horrible statement and restated what the statement was saying. Please note that my intention was not to condone or support the statement, but simply to use the phrase that we often hear bandied about.

    I see that in all issues on BU one must take a firm stance or your words will be misunderstood.

  29. TheGazer Avatar
    TheGazer

    To be lumped with Chad9999 on this issue. I am still trying to recover.

  30. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ TheGazer
    Don’t pay Simple Simon any mind. She is always being dramatic…

    What 60 year old man want her what??!!
    …damn woman used to read too many fairy tales.
    If you don’t think she was (is) a big flirt then Bushie is sorry for you…

    Probably why she had so many ‘Prince Charming’s who have now morphed in to EX’s….
    Don’t know why you are denying Chad9999 …. he has a good point…

    Bunch of Jezebel’s, Delilah’s and Marietta’s (Marie Antoinette’s )….. 🙂

  31. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    Not dramatic Bushie. Just truthful. That’s all.

  32. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    My sincere apologies Gazer. I missed the quotation marks.

  33. stalker Avatar
    stalker

    An attractive well dressed female came out of the blue & asked me to pay for her groceries while at the supermarket. I became speechless, but she repeated the question three(3) times so I looked to the three ladies who were in close proximity to me,including the cashier for help .None of the ladies intervened so I took out my cell phone & pretended I was making a call .After about five minutes the lady paid for the groceries & moved on.
    On two (2) occasions female employees grabbed and kiss me on the lips. I walked away & pretended it didn’t happen. I didn’t make a complaint to the administration.
    Do you consider this harassment.

  34. stalker Avatar
    stalker

    ..Do you consider this harrasment ?

  35. chad99999 Avatar
    chad99999

    I have news for some of the people on this thread. Men are biologically programmed to be sexually aroused by women, and one of the purposes and functions of the female is to engage in sexual activity with men. Our culture. We have borrowed a European civilization which makes a great fuss about an activity that should be as routine as eating and sleeping, so that women come to see themselves as exalted creatures who are trained to be offended by sexual behaviour, and men are constantly told to suppress their “animal” impulses. Well, guess what? We are animals.

  36. Well Well & Consequences2I Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences2I

    Great excuse, until an offended female shows you that you are also an animal with the ability to display self-control, that is what separates you from the animals who can’t and who only have the ability to act out of jungle instinct, because there is no ability to reason…….wish one would approach me with that crock of shit, hope that is not a pick up line.

  37. Well Well & Consequences2I Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences2I

    Yes, it is harassment and if you either were too shocked or enjoyed it too much, you should have reported it, women can also be sexual predators, not as vicious and violent as their male counterparts, but harassment is harassment. Question is, will you report it next time it happens?

  38. chad99999 Avatar
    chad99999

    I hope most men are offended by the double standard in the Western culture we imitate. When dirty, fat, ugly or otherwise unattractive women make unwelcome comments or sexual advances to me, I do not try to shame them, drag them into court and shake them down for cash, get them fired from their jobs, or otherwise punished. I accept their interest and move on.
    But women are always trying to make men pay for having sexual impulses, and with the help of the police and the courts, they often ruin men’s lives for no good reason. Ask Kobe Bryant. Or Bill Cosby.

  39. Well Well & Consequences2I Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences2I

    Kobe Bryant was an idiot…Bill Cosby believed himself entitled….two different scenarios.

  40. Well Well & Consequences2I Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences2I

    And to state the obvious, both Kobe Bryant and Bill Cosby are married men, whuch means that neither of them respect the sanctity and institution of marriage, two really great role models for young black men to follow ain’t they…yeah

    Cosby had to pay out so much money in settlements to cover up lack of control over his impulses. Thing is one of the victims was having none of that.

  41. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    @stalker January 14, 2016 at 12:38 AM “An attractive well dressed female came out of the blue & asked me to pay for her groceries while at the supermarket… so I looked to the three ladies who were in close proximity to me, including the cashier for help .

    There was no need to look for anybody for help. You are a grown man are you not? She did not touch you nor attempt to pick your pocket, so no this was NOT harassment.

    The correct response should have been “No ma’m. I will not pay for your groceries”. And then to studiously ignore her.

  42. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    @stalker January 14, 2016 at 12:38 AM “On two (2) occasions female employees grabbed and kiss me on the lips. I walked away & pretended it didn’t happen. I didn’t make a complaint to the administration.”

    Yes this was harassment. Because they touched you without your consent. You should have told them “Do not do this again”, and moved away. If you were the top boss you should have fired them, for many reasons including that these idiots may do this to a customer you may not appreciate it and take their business elsewhere. And what if one or both of these ladies had herpes or hepatitis and infected you?

    If you were not the top boss you should have complained in writing to the top boss.

  43. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    @chad99999 January 14, 2016 at 12:47 AM ” Men are biologically programmed to be sexually aroused by women,

    Biologically men an women are aroused by each other. But not every woman is aroused by every man, and not every man is aroused by every woman. Time and place. I am sure that at a function do do not try to have sex with the boss’ wife. Because you are not programmed. You are a THINKING human being and if you tried to touch the boss’ wife and it came to his attention he would fire you.

    We are biologically programmed to eat food too but if I enter a restaurant and I am famished with hunger I do not take up your plate and start to eat your food. I wait until I am served, and it does not matter how hungry I am. Because I am a THINKING human being.

  44. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    @stalker January 14, 2016 at 12:38 AM “An attractive well dressed female came out of the blue & asked me to pay for her groceries while at the supermarket…

    This has happened to me too and I wondered why a young healthy well dressed woman was expecting me to pay for her groceries because she was about 35 and I was about 60. She claimed to have recently had triplets and desperately in need of help. But I told her that I had not read of anybody having triplets recently, and I have read all local newspapers ever day for more than 50 years.

    So I asked around, Barbados is after a small place. And no she had not had triplets, but she had beaten her infant son and permanently disabled him, so that he is still in state care (my tax money working for her). So, no, she gets none of my money.

    She may have mental health issues, but at the time of the begging she was within a few hundred metres of our excellent publicly funded psychiatric hospital.

  45. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    @chad99999 January 14, 2016 at 9:03 AM “women often ruin men’s lives for no good reason. Ask Kobe Bryant. Or Bill Cosby.”

    Thankfully I have never met either man, so I cannot ask them. But I believe that ALL ADULTS are responsible for their own behaviour.

    I don’t see why it is so difficult for man to keep his hands to himself and his zipper up unless in a private place and the presence of a consenting wife or girlfriend.

    Nobody is trying to deny men sex.

    A man can have as much sex as he wants as long as it is done in private and with a consenting partner.

    And if ten times a day suits you and your partner than all power to you…but no I do not wish to join you.

  46. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    @chad99999 January 14, 2016 at 12:47 AM “as routine as eating and sleeping.”

    Agreed that sleeping is both routine and biologically necessary.

    But we do not go to work on Monday morning, clear off the desk and take a nice stretch out and go fast to sleep do we?

    We do not get behind the steering wheels of our cars, start the engine, hit the highway and go fast to sleep do we? Well some people do but they are mostly in the cemetery now ain’t it?

    If we are working on the production line of a quarry we do not fall asleep on the job do we?

    When the doctor is performing surgery on you she does not fall asleep in the middle of the procedure does she?

    When a pilot of a small aircraft (like the small aircraft in the region with a single pilot) they do not fall asleep on the job do they?

    I tell you all this to point out to you that you are not a victim of your biology. That we can restrain biological necessities even as urgent as eating and sleeping.

    And sex is NOT as biologically urgent as drinking water, eating or sleeping.

    People have died because they did not drink water, people die because of a lack of food, but I have yet to hear of anybody dying because of a lack of sex.

    I am as Bajan as you are. I’ve had a perfectly satisfactory sex life and at no time have I felt that “Western culture” has denied my sexuality.

  47. chad99999 Avatar
    chad99999

    Hardly a day goes by in North America without some man being sued or fired for offending the high and mighty women of our workplaces. There is no end to this: To wit:

    “An independent probe of alleged impropriety by former Canadian Olympic Committee president Marcel Aubut says a majority of the more than 100 staff members interviewed for the review experienced or saw sexual and personal harassment. The report makes eight recommendations, which include instituting a duty to report harassment, an awareness campaign and training on workplace behaviour, a policy czar’s position, a process to allow employees to register concerns about the harassment policy, employee engagement surveys and renewed emphasis on respect and well-being in the workplace”.

    Sounds like Nazi Germany. This is the kind of nonsense Bajan men will soon have to put up with if they don’t stop the feminists.

  48. Well Well & Consequences2I Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences2I

    Everyday in the US there is still some male chauvinist pig who believe that they are some gift to females, those are the ones who find themselves in trouble, they still exist. Remember the IMF boss, the french pig who preyed on females for decades, many powerful and wealthy men do so, but only if they can get away with it. There are prisons just waiting for the ones who are outed.

    As being reported almost daily, some bosses on the island still want to use sex as a requirement for the most menial of jobs. That is below lowlife, many men see nothing wrong with that and would encourage the practice…….and that too shall pass.

  49. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Personally, one of the things I love about no longer being young is that I can walk the streets in peace without stupid guys yelling their approval or disapproval of my body depending on their preferences. It is quite annoying when you are reduced to your physical characteristics in EVERY situation with no consideration for you as a PERSON. It is nice to be admired by the right persons, at the right time and in the right place but life is about more than sex. At least it has always been so for me. I have other attributes which I value and find it offensive when these are ignored and the focus shifted to my body when I am trying to display these other aspects of my being.

    When we were at Q.C. my friends and I, fed up with being explicitly graded on our body parts as we walked through Bridgetown, turned the tables on the guys for an evening and watched their reactions. THEY DID NOT ENJOY IT AT ALL! We were vocal and very descriptive and specific about which body part we liked and which we didn’t like. They were sooooo uncomfortable.

    Chris Gayle’s BBL remark was out of place. It was not horrific but it was inappropriate. The CPL “pitch remark” was OUTRAGEOUS THOUGH. If he said that to me on camera I would have made him sooooo shame! He needs to tone it down and focus on remarks about the cricket. I would not crucify him but I do think he needs to take a fresh guard. Or he can wait for more opportunists to crawl out of the woodwork and ruin him.

    Me, I will just continue to enjoy being older and apparently less desirable. Who knew being invisible could be so relaxing?

  50. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    Marcel Aubut apologizes for behaviour, quits law firm

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/marcel-aubut-apologizes-for-behaviour-quits-law-firm/article26746030/

    Saying “I have no one to blame but myself,” an emotional Marcel Aubut announced he is taking a “time out” from his business and public life.

    @chad99999 January 14, 2016 at 3:03 PM

    I don’t know why you feel the need to defend Marcel Aubut. The man himself has said “I have no one to blame but myself.”

    He is a smart hguy, a hot shot lawyer. I am sure that he is quite capable of defending himself.

    But perhaps even he realizes that his behaviour is indefensible?

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