The other alternative, calling in University-owned mediators who have no incentive to help you and every incentive to "just make it go away" will almost certainly not improve your situation -- as described in detail in the article.
Sexual harassment can include crimes like sexual assault and stalking, so in those cases you should definitely call the police.
While sexual harassment is terrible, it isn't a crime. There are a lot of terrible things that aren't crimes. A push to criminalize it would have the opposite effect of what the proponents desire: the definition would be severely narrowed and companies would likely have a lot less exposure to litigation.
I'm pretty sure threatening to destroy someone's career to force sex is a crime. If you succeed, it's rape which is quite a serious crime.
Even if you just file a report, it's important to establish a pattern of abuse for when the person inevitably crosses the line and goes to court. This is far more serious than chicken nuggets; the fact that people are willing to liken it to something like that is very troubling and indicative of how deep the problem runs: many people don't even see it as a problem.
We are talking about different things here, and conflating them isn't going to help anybody.
Similarly with sexual harassment. It doesn't mean exactly what you have in your head at this particular moment and nothing else no matter what anyone else says. Look it up if you care to and you'll find its definition is quite broad, especially the way it's used in general conversation. Nobody is suggesting locking people up in jail for saying bad words -- it's an absurd strawman, though it's quite an effective way to derail the conversation and avoid having a real discussion.
The article is about the climate of abuse and sexual harassment of women in astrophysics departments. Groping, specific comments, threats, general comments. Everything from flirtation to repeated unwanted advances to actual assault. That is what we are discussing, so when someone says women should go to the police to report the crimes described in the article you need to assume they are talking about the crimes described in the article.
I'd think that my awareness of the broad definition would be made clear by my repeated warnings that criminalization would narrow it.
> Nobody is suggesting locking people up in jail for saying bad words...
Well the poster that I initially replied to was pretty explicit about getting the police involved, as have a few other people here. So I'm not sure if your point is that I should be more charitable and assume that when someone says "sexual harassment" they don't mean sexual harassment, or if your point is that police should get involved but somehow leave the whole threat of violence thing at the door.
> That is what we are discussing, so when...
That isn't what I was discussing, and you replied to me, so you must be referring to yourself with the royal "we". I'll be more charitable and assume that people don't mean what they say, but I'd appreciate it if you'd extend me the same generosity and assume that I've chosen my words carefully.
Imagine that a man says to a woman "No pressure, but if you're up for it, I'd like to put my popsicle in your purse." That is certainly sexual harassment, and in a workplace a firing would be a likely and not unreasonable resolution. Calling for armed agents of the state to drag the man off to jail (or use the threat of violence to compel anything) is an overreaction.
That is why an advocacy for making sexual harassment a criminal offense works against the proponent's interests. Sexual harassment would be redefined much more narrowly, because you can't lock people up just because they're dirty loudmouths.
I'm struggling to think what this comment even means in the context of the broader discussion. All I know is it makes me laugh out loud.
I have mild autism and am less than welcome in most civil interactions. Do i get to sue everyone and bitch about everything everyday? That would be a NO.
Disclaimer: I do not condone any really disruptive, actual harassment like touching/real verbal abuse.
Let's just ignore it then because they're probably imagining it.
>Disclaimer: I do not condone any really disruptive, actual harassment like touching/real verbal abuse.
But you don't seem to give a shit if it happens.