Comment by neveroffensive | Hacker News Reader

Comment by neveroffensive | Hacker News Reader

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I know it's not what you meant, but obviously unwanted physical sexual conduct is immoral/illegal.

In regard to verbal sexual conduct I would say it is certainly undesirable in a work environment. I wouldn't allow it for a second if I ran a company, but this isn't my company. If Upload want's sexual conduct to be a part of their work environment, it's a dumb choice, but it's their choice.

You can't brow beat society into being perfect, you can only give people basic rights and hope for the best.

I'm sorry but I just don't think anyone has the right to be free from verbal harassment. I challenge you to even come up with a definition for verbal harassment that could be universally applicable.

> I'm sorry but I just don't think anyone has the right to be free from verbal harassment.

Is it the verbal nature of it, that leads you to believe people have no right to be free of it?

As a counter example, consider that verbal intimidation is just as illegal as any other kind.

Fortunately, it's not your decision if someone is allowed to feel offended or threatened.

This is not really relevant either, though — people can feel offended or threatened for many reasons, it doesn’t mean those things can’t be part of the work environment.

For example, if someone has questions about the quality of their work, a person might feel threatened — they might be afraid of getting fired — or they might be offended — they might be proud of their work. But we accept reviewing other people’s work as part of the work place, whether or not it offends or threatens.

Emotional response is not enough to establish that something (a) is illegal or (b) should be. With regards to feeling threatened, for example, we have to ask: Was the threat of something unlawful? Being fired for doing bad work is not unlawful; being fired for not putting out is.

This is what I've been trying to get at. What makes people offended or uncomfortable is much more arbitrary and subjective than I think most people are willing to admit.

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