Welcome to Adulthood

6 months ago, I got my first “grown-up job,” working in an office as opposed to a retail or customer service position.  About 3 weeks ago, I was involved in my first workplace sexual harassment case.  I’m just growing up so fast!  I feel like I could’ve done without this particular part of it though.

It wasn’t particularly traumatizing or horrible, just your basic creep that had to be dealt with, but there were other things that happened in the process.

Throughout the past couple weeks, the head of Human Resources met with me, him, supervisors, and several witnesses, most of us she even talked to twice.  Towards the end of the whole situation, a few things came to light, and in my final meeting with HR, I almost lost my job along with the guy I was fighting against.

After all the decisions had been finalized, I had my final follow-up with HR to wrap up the situation, and she proceeded to lecture me for about 20 minutes about my behavior.  I am well aware that I and everyone else should act a certain way, and at your job, you’re held to a higher standard, but this still rubbed me the wrong way.

It turns out the creep was almost let off the hook completely because I had joked around with him in the past.  Apparently if you’re friendly with someone, that means that all boundaries are gone and any inappropriate comments and behaviors are totally acceptable.

Let me tell you, I was absolutely livid, and I still get angry every time I think about it.  I have completely lost all respect for the Head of HR.  On one hand, I understand that she was just trying to do her job, but on the other hand, how dare she?  To imply, nay, to come right out and say, that friendly conversation with a co-worker is an open door to harassment including, but not limited to, hovering around my desk despite multiple people telling him to go away, constantly finding reasons to touch my shoulders, arms, and back, and making repeated comments about my boobs.

I know I’m new to this, but is this really how things work?  I know that there are plenty of people that share this attitude, which, in itself is downright disgusting.  I guess I just didn’t expect to see it from a person who deals with people and relations for a living.  Is this my official Welcome into Adulthood:  Realizing just how big and close to home the problems are that I’m fighting against?

So now, I’m facing a weird combination of being incredibly bummed and depressed about the state of the world, and being fired up and ready to take on anything that comes my way.  Maybe I won’t go down in history for being a revolutionary and maybe I can’t change the world, but damn me if I just sit down and give up.  That’s for sure not going to happen.

Bait a Hook

This song, Bait a Hook by Justin Moore, came out on the radio approximately a year ago, and ever since the first time I heard it, I’ve been completely outraged by it. The entire meaning behind the song is that unless a man is a rugged fisher, hunter, outdoorsman, macho, tough guy, he is unworthy of love and relationships.  This is just one example of how the patriarchal society is not just damaging to women, and the list does not end there.  Women are not the only ones who suffer and are victims of this.  Justin Moore, I lost a lot of respect for you since I heard this song.

And now, to introduce what’s happening next!

Many people judge feminists because they claim that the feminists are ignoring the men’s issues and are just trying to make it all about women.  While this is far from the truth, there’s no way better to prove this than to show it.  So I’m starting a new series of posts.  I’m not saying how long this will run for, but for the next period of time, I’m going to be covering the issues that men deal with in a patriarchal society and how feminism is for all gender equality, and not making women superior.

We’re Not Welcome Here

Back in my high school days, I was very active in my church and the youth group there, and while I no longer attend, I am still fairly close to many people who do, and quite often find myself present for many discussions on staying strong in faith and Christianity.  They know how I feel about it, and are thankfully respectful of that, as in not putting all of their energy into converting me, and I am respectful of them and am not trying to trash everything they say.  I just wait until the conversation moves on to other things, and then jump back in.  One of the topics that I have heard come up on many occasions, however, I was unable to keep my mouth shut about, because it honestly just baffles me.

I’ve been hearing all my life how Christians have a difficult struggle in life because society will never accept their lifestyle or their choices.  Are you kidding me?  When “One Nation Under God” is a part of our nation’s pledge and stamped on our currency, when there is a church on every corner in every town in across the country, when there is a Christian club in most high schools, and yet organizations like the SSA (Secular Student Alliance) has to continue to fight with principals, school boards, and take legal action to get anything set up.

Study after study has shown that atheists are among the least trusted group in the country (as shown here), and have even been voted as less trustworthy than rapists in a few cases.  In this poll, 48% of people would refuse to vote for an atheist presidential candidate, despite anything else about the person or their qualifications (yes, I am aware that this one is a few years old, but things have not changed so drastically since then that this isn’t still a problem, so just bear with me).

The more I read about this, the more it just blows me away.  Much of it goes back to my previous post entitled No Morality Without God? as this seems to be one of the main reasons for the discrimination.  It shocks me that so many people are still viewing atheists as these horrible people who would sooner kill you than look at you and have no place in society.

This is utterly ridiculous.  I have seen many Christians talk about how they need to always be respectful of other people’s religious views, and love everyone no matter what, but apparently, that principle does not apply to the non-religious.

I guess respect for people whose views differ from your own only extends to some.