Absolutely well-said.  Amen.  It's a shame we have to even read this, and the sad thing is that the people who really need it probably won't be smart enough to read it.

I totally agree with your sentiment here, specifically regarding the intentional use of sexuality for the purposes of marketing or "having fun" in a professional setting. In the event you described above, I do think it's very likely to be offensive to many women and men, because it is the exploitation of one gender for the entertainment of another. Now, I'm an extremely liberal person. I believe in all types of expression, and have no prejudices (or try anyway) about how people live their lives and what they do for fun. But, in a sponsored environment like PASS (or any conference, or even a company meeting), this behavior is inappropriate and divisive. How many people left the event (where they may have had fun and made some good networking contacts) specifically because of how uncomfortable they were with that scene?

I do think, to a certain extent, that interactions between professionals (attendees/coworkers/etc.) is a little more of a grey area. Take an example of two conference attendees, both of whom are single, choosing to flirt (in a respectful way) with one another throughout the day. Is that inappropriate? Overt advances and unwanted chatter aside, the fact is that most people (not just men) who are single will "peruse" the other attendees at an event like PASS. Why? Because at least there, you're likely to find someone you have something in common with. And even if you just find a buddy to hang with for the duration of the event, it's still more fun than keeping to yourself (or your traveling companions, whom you may already have gotten sick of). My point is, this topic is akin to "workplace romances". Should they be totally taboo? Or a fact of life?

I've never met anyone "at work", but I have known people with whom that is happened...and I've seen situations where it was fine, and some where it wasn't. I think, from a career standpoint, it's a good idea to avoid it, but I understand why it happens, particularly to those who have advanced in their career: Where else are you going to meet people when you work 60 hours a week? Sure, it's easy to say that a person should find time to meet people outside of work, but the practicality of it is that many people don't have time. Plus, you're likely to meet someone you have something in common with at work (you can complain together, if nothing else).

However, back to the point of your post, I do firmly believe that we have a problem with harassment in our culture. Not just at work, but across the board. And I'm glad people like you (and the others you mentioned) are willing to speak out and remind people that when we are at work, we are professionals first. No one should have to endure any sort of demeaning harassment or unwanted advances. Thanks for posting this Steve!

Introduction There was a lot of buzz today on the sexual harassment of our female peers. The first post

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Way to go Steve, this stuff has to be said.

It seems that the Economic crisis has brought on a lot more unwanted behaviour in the workplace than anyone was expecting.

It's up to us leaders to step forward and denounce the madness....even if we get shot a few times doing it, at least we'll have our honor, integrity and dignity.

Thanks again, let's hope courage is contagious.

I only just noticed this now. Scary thing is, that kind of incident isn't that uncommon.

I had a similar thing a couple years ago at PASS. Guy that I was chatting with (tech talk) suddenly invited me back to his hotel room with a comment "We can have some fun while you're here". After that I avoided him for the rest of the conference, and every conference after that.

Oh, and that PASS party. There were leather-clad biker dudes available for photographs too. Still it felt a little off.