Judi: There’s no such thing as sexual harassment (Opinion)

It’s no surprise that Costco managers in two New Jersey counties are being charged with sexual harassment. Because everything is sexual harassment today. But nothing really is. According to an article on NJ.com, a Costco manager in Edison sexually harassed a woman employee by stalking her throughout the store during her lunch break, referring to her as “mi amor,' which translates to “my love.” He also demanded she give him her cell phone number, despite her refusals.

First of all “stalking” is a serious allegation. Someone who is attracted to you and has a case of puppy love, who follows you around the office trying to flirt with you is not actually stalking you according to the law.

In the olden days, and I mean as recently as 20 years ago, this behavior was known as flirting, putting the moves on, coming on to, or, depending on how you felt about the person, simply “rude and/or inappropriate behavior.” Up until the term sexual harassment was coined by lawyers, you could choose how you wanted to respond to people who flirted with you in the workplace (usually men).

You could either succumb (which plenty of people do and many relationships begin this way) or you could tell the offender off. And if the behavior didn’t stop? I guess you’d have to find another place to work. There are all kinds of rude behavior in the workplace but “sexual-harassment”is the original get-quick-rich quick scheme.

The term was invented by lawyers who knew that they could turn a profit off of a man’s natural instinct to try to get the attention of an attractive woman. This led to an entire legal industry where you now have the “right” to feel comfy and cozy in every aspect of your work life or else!. What today is known as sexual-harassment isn’t rape or assault.

It is simply inappropriate behavior, which somehow has become a crime instead of a work infraction. The genesis of the “sexual-harassment” era was the tipping point for women. Under the guise of giving women empowerment, it actually did the opposite: It showed a woman’s innate weakness and her inability to deal with difficult males in difficult situations all on her own.

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