Mastodawn

So much I love about this story.

Dudes crying about their rights to harass women....

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/sexual-harassment-billboard-9.7152106

When an airport rejected this sexual harassment lawyer's small ad, she sued. Now she has a giant billboard | CBC Radio

A New York airport authority rejected sexual harassment lawyer Megan Thomas's ad copy and asked her to tone it down, so she filed a free speech lawsuit. The judge took her side, and now she has two massive ads on full display.

CBC

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Kerry Mitchell 🍁1d ago

@chu I thought it was an interesting ad. I would guess it was perceived as too aggressive, not because it equates flirting with harassment, but because it calls out HR for protecting harassers. It does disparage a profession, although the Authority was apparently reluctant to state this in their argument. Maybe they felt HR was indefensible - Thomas would only have to show examples where HR failed to protect victims.

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Carolyn 1d ago

@KerryMitchell @chu HR famously protects companies over employees, especially when it’s women complaining about harassment.

This is only “aggressive” to those who are defending sexual harassment.

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Kerry Mitchell 🍁1d ago

@CStamp @chu Yes, I agree. The ad copy doesn’t expressly say “flirting = harassment” it says that if HR is dismissive of your harassment complaint you should call Thomas, a lawyer.

Somebody at the authority took exception to the message, but their choice was to make the argument that the ad goes too far in equating flirting with harassment, and to suggest that the message was disparaging without specifically identifying the disparaged party.

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Chu 朱 1d ago

@KerryMitchell @CStamp

Probably some dude in HR that got this ad killed. Or some dude who likes to harass women

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Kerry Mitchell 🍁1d ago

@chu @CStamp I suspect that whoever reviews ads for the authority tried to apply “within the organization” standards to material for the general public.

It’s ingrained in organizations that HR will deal objectively with complaints, and even people who know it’s a fiction see it as a necessary one to protect the organization from legal actions.

Maybe a really sexist person would misinterpret the ad and feel called out for “harmless flirting” but it depends on a misreading.

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Ignazio Palmisano 21h ago

@KerryMitchell @chu @CStamp I suspect anyone who feels called out by this ad is not misinterpreting it, they're feeling a cold chill from having been almost caught, and now maybe someone might take a second look at things. And they deserve the discomfort.

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Kerry Mitchell 🍁

@ignaziop1977 Maybe. I wouldn’t say an objection to the ad, even on the basis of a belief that flirting is not the same as harassment, is necessarily evidence that the person objecting has past misdeeds to cover up.