"Joking" is not a fig leaf for sexual harassment

Zhang Yusheng

In the real workplace, some people often love to joke, and sometimes the jokes are a little "heavy", does such behavior constitute sexual harassment in the workplace? A few days ago, Du Mou, the head chef of a hotel in a certain place, was sued by her female colleague Xiao Lu on the grounds that she was sexually harassed by her because she usually liked to say "Huang Duanzi". After trial, the court of first instance ordered Du to compensate Xiao Lu for 5,000 yuan in consolation money for mental damage, and Du appealed. In May this year, the court of second instance upheld the original judgment. (Workers Daily, October 21)

"Joking" is a common social phenomenon in real life, especially in workplaces where there is a high frequency of contact and intersection between colleagues. But everything has a degree, jokes should also pay attention to appropriate, moderate, regardless of the occasion, not to talk about the proportions of jokes, not only easy to have a negative impact, sometimes will also be suspected of illegal infringement. Du Mou, the head chef of the hotel, was accused of sexual harassment because he loved to say "yellow paragraphs" and was punished by the judiciary, which really gave people a rule of law education lesson to clarify the boundary between "jokes" and sexual harassment.

It is undeniable that moderate and timely "joking" can indeed enliven the workplace atmosphere to a certain extent, eliminate embarrassment and pleasure. However, it is not excluded that some people harbor the indecent psychology of sexual harassment in the name of "joking". Jokes, including opening up pornography, must be temperate, principled, obey the law, and keep the bottom line, and must not be unscrupulous, open-minded, and say whatever they want. In particular, we must pay attention to respecting the privacy and rights of others, and fully take into account the inner feelings of the listener.

Someone has listed a number of "precautions" for joking behavior in the workplace, including not making jokes about the elderly, not making excessive jokes with colleagues of the opposite sex, not always joking with colleagues, not thinking that teasing people is also joking, not joking about colleagues' shortcomings or deficiencies, and so on. These well-intentioned proposals are quite plausible and deserve careful listening.

Sexual harassment is an immoral act that the rest of the world unanimously opposes. The United Nations International Labour Organization has defined harassment as "causing physical, mental, sexual or economic harm" and "a series of acts and habits that are difficult to tolerate", and has enumerated the manifestations of sexual harassment, all of which point to the "undesirable" attribute, including "unwelcome sexual jokes, provocations, talks or questions". Article 1010 of Title IV personality rights of China's Civil Code provides: "Where sexual harassment of others is carried out against the will of others by means of words, words, images, physical acts, etc., the victim has the right to request the perpetrator to bear civil liability in accordance with law." ”

Speaking of "yellow paragraphs" is vulgar and provocative verbal harassment, and it is also an act of harassment and violation for a short time. To determine whether the "yellow paragraph" constitutes sexual harassment in the workplace, it depends on whether the content involved is aimed at a specific object. According to the "China Workplace Sexual Harassment Survey Report" released by the women's legal hotline in the workplace in 2018, sexual harassment in the workplace often comes from "acquaintances" such as employers, bosses, colleagues, and customers, of which 70% of the respondents chose to be silent. Silence, on the other hand, tends to lead to more serious physical and mental damage. From this point of view, it is crucial to stimulate the victims' awareness of whistle-blowing and rights protection.

Preventing jokes from being alienated into sexual harassment requires parties who feel impaired in dignity and psychological discomfort to clearly express their rejection and pay attention to collecting evidence. In particular, audio and video recordings and WeChat chat records at the time of the violation, or asking a third party to testify. It is necessary to raise verbal protests to the infringers, and to take the initiative to reflect the problems to the competent leaders to prevent the spread or escalation of the situation.

Employers, including government organs, enterprises, schools, etc., shall perform their statutory obligations, protect the rights and interests of employees, adopt reasonable measures to prevent, accept complaints, investigate and dispose of them, and prevent and stop the use of authority, subordination, and so forth to carry out sexual harassment. The judiciary should clarify the right and wrong boundaries between jokes and sexual harassment, and review the evidence in combination with logical reasoning and rules of thumb of life, and support the victim's claims as much as possible.

Comics/Chen Bin