Posted by
William D. Dannenmaier on Monday, November 07, 2011 4:37:45 PM
National news is reporting that three women have now reported sexual harassment by Mr. Cain, a top candidate for the Republican candidacy for President. No report I’ve read says that he made sexual advances towards them and punished them in some way for not accepting them. Neither are they saying that he made repetitive sexually offensive gestures in their presence. They are only saying that he made gestures, of some unidentified nature, which they found offensive. But it is still making national news.
My own offenses, sexual harassment today, probably began sixty years ago when I was teaching fifth grade in downtown St. Louis. It never bothered me to put an arm around some little girl, or boy for that matter, who was talking to me. One boy, who had been put into my class from a different class because that teacher could not control him, used to wait until I walked down to a restaurant on Broadway and walk with me. He would walk with his arm around me, and mine was around him. This, of course, occurred after we reached an understanding that I was the boss.
My offenses, if they were such, probably continued as a college professor. Try teaching mental health or abnormal psychology, as I did, and not offending someone. Since many, if not most, emotional problems arise from sexual or religious beliefs – often intertwined, “sexism,” by today’s standards, is rampant in such classes.
According to all news and women’s rights advocates, men are always the problem. But are they? Adolescent girls flirt. Men teachers need to be aware of that and watch their steps. When I was student teaching, a young male teacher, Jack, and I were responsible for supervising children as they walked up the stairs to our third floor classrooms. One teenager, with a shape that Hollywood starlets would pay doctors to emulate, would look up, take a deep breath and smile as she rounded the turn and came within sight of us. We would turn our backs. She, at all of fifteen, had our numbers and she knew it.
With twenty years experience as a college professor, I guarantee that there are young women who flaunt their femininity to their professors. Once I was standing in the hallway talking to a fellow professor, Dr. Davis. The hallway was a good eight feet wide and we were about two feet from the wall. A young lady, a student in our classes, who had a penchant for sweaters and an outstanding – pun intended, chest came down the hall. Approaching us, she turned sideways and, back to the wall, sidled between us and the wall, ignoring six feet of empty hallway.
A fellow professor, with more nerve than I had, once pinched an attractive young lady. She jumped back and said, “You pinched me!” His unrepentant reply was, “If you didn’t want a pinch, you shouldn’t have been rubbing your butt against my leg.”
The most open solicitation I ever received was a young woman in one of my classes, who came to my office and said, “I’ll do anything for an ‘A’ ” I replied, “Good! Read the chapters we are covering and study the summaries.” I don’t think she wanted that advice. She earned a “C”.
Quitting teaching to work for the army, I was amused one evening to observe the same use of femininity. My bride and I were sitting in the officers’ club at Ft. Devens when a young, female, lieutenant entered. She was attractive: tall, slender, with a pleasantly female figure and had her uniform tailored (against army regulations) to display her figure to best advantage. She sat with another lieutenant, male, at the table next to us. Then a captain entered and sat at a different table. Soon, she was at his table. As we were preparing to leave, a major entered. You guessed it. She was sitting at his table when we left.
Concerning Mr. Cain, I consider it astonishing that, considering his current prominence and former position as CEO of a large chain of restaurants, only three women have complained. Forty years of experience in business, education and civil service have taught me that any male in a position of power will attract sexual advances from women, from some women. Considering the broad definition of sexually harassment currently in style, Mr. Cain must have been very restrained! Perhaps I should stop telling young women at the hospital and grocery when I think they are attractively dressed. I might want to run for President some day.