A Return To Sexual Harassment.

Welcome back to the 1990's! Where sexual harassment and political correctness runs amok to the detriment of many a decent person... oh wait this isn't the 90's?! Well what is going on then? What is up with the accusations against Herman Cain? It's starting to sound like the redux of Bill Clinton and Clarence Thomas, no wonder I am so confused.

I am not a republican. In fact, I have no political affiliation at all, though I would say libertarian best describes me. This post has little to do with politics. Instead, I am going to focus on the mere accusation of sexual harassment and it's results.

During the early 90's I worked for an institution that took care of mentally disabled adults and children. We were a private organization but those in charge at the time, were very liberal, very politically correct and I enjoyed most of my time working there. During my time we had 2 cases of sexual harassment that came up that really opened my eyes to what sort of damage can be done by just the mere accusation. All Names have been changed but the stories themselves are true to the best of my memory.

Paul was a young man of about 30 who loved his job. He was the kind of guy who would work extra hours or bring residents home for the holidays, pretty much anything, just so he could help. This was not an ego trip for him, this was just the kind of person he was. He was one of those kind of people that you could depend on. Then he was accused of sexual harassment by a female resident suggesting that he had made sexual advances at her. All of us who worked with him knew that this was a bunch of bull. Not because she was mentally handicapped, no. He was Gay. He wasn't an inside the closet gay man, no, he brought his boyfriend to work related events and made no bones about who he was and he was accepted by all. But because the accusation had been made it had to be investigated and his reputation in Human Services was ruined from that point on. When the investigators were done he was cleared but the charge, the mere accusation, will always be on his work record and he wound up leaving the line of work he loved.

The second case was a bit more personal because I was involved in it. I wasn't accused but I was the supervisor of the two people in question.

The girl, who I will call Maria, was a very good looking woman and could easily catch the attention of any of the men there. One young man, whom I will call Bob, was particularly taken with her and as things would have it they started dating. I had to put them in different buildings during working hours so that there wouldn't be a conflict at work, but as things tend to happen their personal life came into play at work. After they had had a rather nasty argument they showed up to work, she came to me, and accused him of sexual harassment. Honestly, I didn't see how she could justify that claim, but because I was the supervisor, I sent him home and made my report. When my boss came in in the morning, I told her what had happened and she made her report. It turned out that it was a good thing that I took notes, as did my boss, because after the investigation showed no credible evidence, Maria sued the man and the institution that I worked for. Her claims were that we didn't take it seriously enough and that he had caused her psychological damage. Our paperwork and notes clearly showed that we had taken it seriously and had followed procedures exactly as we were supposed to, but the damage had been done. Nothing was ever proven, but just the mere accusation had destroyed Bob, and had seriously hurt the reputation of the place where I was working.

Is this the kind of thing that we are going to return to? Mere accusations without proof? I am not suggesting that real sexual harassment cases don't exist, they do, but usually they are brought to light when they happen and not 10 or 20 years down the road.

Truly it never ceases to amaze me the timing and politics of all these accusations. With Bill Clinton, it wasn't really until it became clear that he was a serious contender, that the accusations of sexual harassment began to fly, granted that in the end much of it was proven, but the timing was incredible, and despite the fact that the budget was balanced, he will always be remembered for what he was accused of rather then what he did. I had never even heard of Clarence Thomas until he was accused of sexual harassment, which was never proven, during his confirmation hearing. And for him as well, he will always be remembered for the accusation against him, rather then what he does as a justice. Now it's Herman Cain's turn. All of them top dogs, all of it timed, so it appears, to take them down.

I don't know Herman Cain, no more then any other politician, I can't say as I agree with him, politically speaking, on everything, but don't you think it's time that we come up with another way of bringing down a political foe then sexual harassment, without proof? He may be guilty, as was Bill Clinton, but I would think that we would have finally come to a place in time where we would demand the proof before we just assume that the accusations are fact but with the media being what it is I guess that would be too much to ask.