Nope. Are you trying thay rape culture is a thing and dudes really need special courses on how to not be harassers? That does not describe or culture or majority of dudes in any way. Our culture is full of signals that harassment is wrong.
It is also quite unlikely that people who climb the ladder and successfully play "impress investors and people around" social skills game are so clueless magically when they are alone with women. Somehow they manage to be cluefull when acting like a peacock would harm their career.
I would believe claim about dumbass, if we would talk about dude down in the basement that insulted CEO last week. Then yeah, he is clueless. But in cases here, it is really too much benefit of doubt.
Not everyone who likes to take advantage of other person (including when genders are reversed) is clueless.
Majority of men including those on the spectrum are not like that. When you claim that this is normal misunderstanding, you throw shadow on them too.
I have witnessed at least 3 people that were in a manager position and had unacceptable behavior. What lawnchair_larry described matches almost perfectly my perception of them.
One of them would casually explain in conversations the software he had written to crawl dating website. We was very open with things such as the mirror above his bed, sharing pictures of it. Before leaving the company at last, he had received multiple sanctions including an interdiction to get too close to some women who had worked with him.
Had I not met those people, I would be unable to believe that they exist.
My theory is that they are bold, assertive and have no shame. They don't "play" with people; people like them. They seduce managers and investors. They try to do the same with coworkers.
"Before leaving the company at last, he had received multiple sanctions including an interdiction to get too close to some women who had worked with him."
That sounds quite far away. He did not get info after first two and still honestly does not understand his behavior is not welcome? I mean, if you get the note from HR that you are not allowed to approach person x anymore, then maybe the seducing strategy does not work? Then again, people are not all that rational in general.
dudes really need special courses on how to not be harassers?
Given the many first-hand accounts of ordinary everyday harassment and men who flat-out do not seem to understand what is and isn't inappropriate, or what the words "no" or "I'm not interested" or "leave me alone" mean, yes, it does seem there is a significant population for whom this type of basic education is absolutely and vitally necessary.
Think of it like driver licensing -- many people, probably most adults, are, with a few lessons, perfectly capable of safely operating a car in most situations. And would seek out those lessons (whether paid from a professional teacher, or informally from an experienced friend or family member) regardless of whether they were required. But enough people wouldn't that we have to force every single person who wants to drive to obtain a license through a process that involves examination of their knowledge of driving and traffic rules.
So "teach about how not to harass/teach about consent/etc." should not be interpreted as "this person is calling out 100% of all men alive as well as me, personally and directly, out of blind hate", but rather as "just like driver licensing, there are enough assholes out there who ruin things that we probably need to make sure people are taught this".
Also, mandatory teaching/training ensures that nobody can pull a "well I didn't think that was wrong" excuse -- if people are taught what is and isn't acceptable, and there's a record of them being taught it, then they know it's wrong and we know they know.
I agree that this education is "absolutely and vitally necessary", however I disagree with you that this education is "basic" or that it should be relegated to just subset of the population.
Knowing how to communicate with people who are different from you, knowing how to disagree with another without insulting them, knowing how to check sexual desires in inappropriate settings, knowing when you are operating from a position of power rather than influence ... these are often not at all obvious, they are learned.
I didn't say "it should be relegated to just [a] subset of the population". I said a justification for imposing it universally is to observe a subset of the population and come to the conclusion that yes, this is needed.
Actually what we need is a huge corrective in media, the stuff feminists complain about all the time.
e.g. bell hooks' film stuff, The Bechdel Test, Anita Sarkeesian's work, etc.
This problem forms in large part because men are too attached to media that reinforces notions of women as secondary people, objects, and reward trophies.
The problem is that people's empathy with women going through harassment abruptly stops when they themselves are implicated in some manner.
>"Actually what we need is a huge corrective in media, the stuff feminists complain about all the time. [...]This problem forms in large part because men are too attached to media that reinforces notions of women as secondary people, objects, and reward trophies."
Yes, let's make it a thought crime to think of women as "secondary people, objects and reward trophies" and punish them for thinking it, instead of punishing actual physical criminal behavior. Let's ban and burn books because we don't like the type of behavior they "create" in males.
Stopped reading at "rape culture". Nothing I said has anything to do with rape (except Bill Cosby, who was mentioned specifically to emphasize that these comments don't apply to cases like that), and neither of the individuals involved have been accused of rape or anything resembling rape so I don't know why you'd bring that up.
It is also quite unlikely that people who climb the ladder and successfully play "impress investors and people around" social skills game are so clueless magically when they are alone with women. Somehow they manage to be cluefull when acting like a peacock would harm their career.
I would believe claim about dumbass, if we would talk about dude down in the basement that insulted CEO last week. Then yeah, he is clueless. But in cases here, it is really too much benefit of doubt.
Not everyone who likes to take advantage of other person (including when genders are reversed) is clueless.
Majority of men including those on the spectrum are not like that. When you claim that this is normal misunderstanding, you throw shadow on them too.