I just saw Anita Hill on the Jon Stewart show and she is really a class act. She paved the way for women in the work place. The laws were on the books when she testified about Clarence Thomas and his indiscretions in the work place, but if you need to educate yourself about inappropriate behavior in the work place just watch a couple of episodes of Mad Men.
I started working in education in the early 80's. I can remember some of the coaches going out in the hall between classes and rating all the girl students. The cheerleaders got extra high ratings when they had their short uniforms on. I had a principal that always put his hand on my shoulder or arm whenever he spoke to me. It gave me the creeps-but what could I do? It wasn't an egregious offense. I would have lost my status if I had said anything. I had a boss during my summer employment in college that made me go out and drive him to get pot and then sit with him while he smoked it and then drive him home ( to his poor wife and family). I didn't really like it but I didn't have any power, so I did what he asked.
When Anita Hill stood up to Clarence Thomas and spoke about his behavior to congress, she spoke to a panel of 14 old white men about sexual harassment. Do you think they really had any idea why she was offended? She spoke of the sick perverted jokes and even worse the overt sexual overtures and those congressmen were probable thinking- this is nothing that I haven't done myself. But- it put a little bug in the minds of our nations's male dominated work bosses and within a couple of years, a lot of that behavior was curtailed- at least it wasn't considered normal.
I have always admired Anita Hill and apparently there is a documentary that is coming out that will explore her story and present it to a new generation of girls. I can not wait to see it. If we had listened to her and nixed the judicial appointment of Clarence Thomas- would that really have been such a bad thing?
