Bring Out the Big Balloons!

[whell]

Originally Posted by nailer

I'm pretty sure Ellen wasn't creating a hostile working environment. Your points in defense of your original weak point are equally weak, but I did enjoy your conservative HR guy closing whine.

It wasn't a "whine". It was pretty accurate. It wasn't meant to diminish harassment claims. Rather, it demonstrates the low threshold that is required for some conduct to be deemed offensive or harassing.

However, your comment seems to fall into the realm of excusing this kind of behavior. I understand the "eye of the beholder offense". However, the standard in harassment complaints is: would a "reasonable person" observing this behavior (or experiencing the behavior) find it offensive / harassing? Where the victim of harassment is a woman, the standard is elevated to: would a "reasonable woman" observing this behavior (or experiencing the behavior) find it offensive / harassing?