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Comment by lidmith | Hacker News Reader

This is amazing. I think it may be situations like these that let some people dismiss actual sexual harassment. When you include completely innocent activities in sexual harassment, it damages the view of what sexual harassment really is (though he was cleared of any sexual harassment, he was still punished for it).

I have to imagine that this incident will harm the female colleague's reputation, which, if the story is accurate, it should.

You'd think medical scientists would be a bit more mature about sex.

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It doesn't seem like it was completely innocent.

He was cleared of the "sexual harassment" charge but the investigation also concluded that "showing the paper was a joke with a sexual innuendo" (at least how I read that article). Depending on the relationship of the people involved, and what the innuendo really amounted to, it's hard to say. That at least seems unnecessary.

Using bat reproduction papers to hit on co-workers? a) Weak; b) Yes, one of them needs to be more mature about sex.

Even supposing that it was sexual innuendo, that doesn't mean he was hitting on her. Straight men and women have conversations filled with sexual innuendo all the time.

Often inadvertently. It seems to be a feature of the human brain.

Anyone have more insight?

Playing on the sexual innuendo of a paper on bat fellatio doesn't need to mean he was hitting on her. More likely it was a subtle form of sexual harassment.

I thought most of the time sexual harassment happened because the aggressor basically wants the victim to sexually submit (i.e. have sex). It might not lead to a more direct, "have sex with me if you want to get promoted," but I see little point in harassment for the sake of harassment.

>I thought most of the time sexual harassment happened because the aggressor basically wants the victim to sexually submit (i.e. have sex).

Sexual harassment is harassment - behaviour intended to intimidate, disturb, offend, threaten someone - that uses sexuality as a vector. It's extraordinarily naive to assume sexual harassment isn't taking place if the aggressor's goal is not to elicit submission to sex itself.

They are co-workers. He should have showed some restraint. BUT academics are supposed to be famous for free and unfettered flow of ideas, so that gives him some slack.

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