Then, using that stereotypical behaviour to chastise others.
You also presume that "brown nosing" is the same category as "being nice". It's not. Brown nosing is a non-genuine, fabricated expression.
So is the woman faking "being nice" due to brow nosing, or faking "being nice" due to sexual interest?
The parent poster was merely wondering if this is hard to discern, and even indicated that it "doesn't make it right".
Your response is part of what is wrong with such dynamics today. Knee jerk reactions to speculation is not called for.
Men also sometimes misinterpret waitresses as flirting with them when they aren’t, which is another common entry point for sexual harassment. What I’m describing would be similar to that. Would you say that doesn’t happen either, or are they somehow completely different?
It really doesn't matter if the boss is confused. Someone with a position of power over another should not do this period. The person being groped risks their job if they speak up.
https://variety.com/2017/film/news/john-lasseter-pixar-disne...
This is unacceptable- period
And because guys in these sorts of positions actually do get an overpowered amount of real interest from women, they may have a harder time detecting inauthentic interest-alias than say a random janitor guy who a woman is being artificially nice to for some reason.
And then if the guy mistakenly thinks the woman is interested and makes a move, the woman may then in the moment feel unsure about what to do, because an abrupt rejection that contradicts their earlier outward behavior may make them feel not good, they might feel like they caused it, etc (which I think lines up with accounts I’ve read, except they don’t mention the brown nosing part of the theorized pattern).
This doesn’t excuse anything, necessarily, I just wonder if there are some complex dynamics at play. This setup we have where sexual relations are at will, subject only to consent, is not that old, so it wouldn’t be surprising if the system as-is still produces very bad outcomes at times even if the parties involved are all behaving in a non-psychopathic way.