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From: RFM@psuvm.psu.EDU
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Subject: Re: an approach to harassment
Message-ID: <91123.230511RFM@psuvm.psu.edu>
Date: 7 May 91 17:19:28 GMT
References: <9105012014.AA01374@cs.uri.edu>
Organization: Penn State University
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>I have an undergraduate student who is working for industry.  She
>claims that her boss is always pulling on her hair, patting or
>stroking her head, etc.  If she gets angry and tells him to stop, he
>just laughs and thinks it is cute.  I have suggested that she do the
>same back to him when his colleagues are around to embarass him.  She
>thinks that is playing with "fire".  Maybe she is correct.  Although,
>I personally have had great success with this approach in the past.
>
>Do any of you have any suggestions?  She is a rather shy woman, who is
>much younger than the other people she works with.  She wants to try
>to deal with it on her own first before going over her boss's head.

The *BEST* advice you can give a woman experiencing these kinds of
harassing behaviors is to contact the (local/state) human relations
commission. Those folks are trained in handling such situations. The
advice you did give her wasn't worth diddly-squat. The boss in this
case is violating criminal laws (assault - the unwanted touching) and
civil laws (the state's human relations/civil rights statutes). Any
*informal* response she makes to his behavior leaves her open to
continued harassment and/or future retribution.

In addition to this *BEST* advice, the *BEST* action you could
undertake would be to find out name/address/phone number of the state
human relations commission and point the girl toward them. Maybe
accompany her on initial visit.

BobM