So, as it turns out, had I bothered to check the policy, my relationship with a superior within my institution, so long as he/she is not directly supervising or evaluating me, is discouraged but nonetheless respected. In fact, my institution does everything in their power to keep the relationship confidential if conflicts of interest do need to be ironed out.
Faith in humanity: restored. More specifically in independent, ie private organizations, where we are not subjugated to the mass paranoia of the state.
So now I can harbor thoughts of intimacy without the background noise of worry that our lives could be ruined. The key factor is full disclosure and consent, which are both hard things to achieve if anything you say to the effect of "I'd like to date you" can be interpreted as and will be taken seriously if presented as sexual harassment.
I think institutions need some guidelines of "harasser's rights" as it were. I mean, if I don't know that what I'm doing makes you uncomfortable, and I think it's within the realm of reasonable doubt that this can occur, then don't I have some right to defend myself on that basis before being labeled a sexual harasser? I feel like the first proposal of a date is a freebie; after that, yes you can totally claim harassment. No means no.
No comments:
Post a Comment